As of: February 19, 2024, 1:08 p.m
By: Martina Lippl
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Bacterial infections can be fatal.
Antibiotics sometimes no longer help.
Harvard researchers have now found an active ingredient “against super germs”.
Kassel – The new antibiotic is superior to many modern medications.
It kills many strains of drug-resistant bacteria.
It also works against dreaded hospital germs such as Staphylococcus aureus.
US scientists report these results in the journal
Science
.
Researchers are developing a new antibiotic that is supposed to work against dangerous hospital germs
The “superbug killer” is a new molecule from the laboratory called cresomycin (CRM).
According to scientists at Harvard University, cresomycin is also effective against bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomanas aeruginosa.
Infections with these pathogens are particularly dangerous and can be fatal.
Hospital germs are feared by hospital staff and patients (symbolic photo).
One of the best known is Staphylococcus aureus.
© Stephan Eickershoff/imago
In the laboratory and in animal experiments, mice survived fatal blood poisoning thanks to the new antibiotic.
The first clinical studies are now to follow.
New antibiotic against multi-resistant germs?
“We do not yet know whether cresomycin and similar drugs are safe and effective in humans.
“But our results show significantly improved inhibitory effectiveness compared to clinically approved antibiotics against a long list of pathogenic bacterial strains that kill more than a million people every year,” said study leader Andrew Myers, according to a press release accompanying the
Science
publication.
This is how the new antibiotic works, according to the Harvard researchers
“Antibiotics are the foundation on which modern medicine is built,” said co-author and doctoral student Kelvin Wu, according to the release.
“Without antibiotics, many cutting-edge medical procedures such as surgeries, cancer treatments and organ transplants cannot be performed.”
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According to the researchers, cresomycin is a promising active ingredient to win the “war against superbugs”.
According to the researchers, the new molecule has an improved ability to attach to bacterial ribosomes.
According to the scientists, the so-called ribosomes are biomolecular machines that produce proteins in the cell.
Harvard researchers are developing new antibiotics against deadly bacteria: in a model, cresomycin is bound to the bacterial ribosome of Thermus thermophilus.
© YURY POLIKANOV/UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS CHICAGO
Many classic antibiotics work because they destroy ribosomes in the bacteria.
But some bacteria have developed mechanisms that prevent exactly this effect - antibiotic resistance.
They change the structure of their ribosomes so that they can multiply unhindered despite the antibiotics, ultimately nullifying the effects of the drugs.
New antibiotic prevents mechanism in hospital germs
The new antibiotic addresses exactly this problem.
The artificially produced molecule cremomycin switches off this mechanism.
The researchers call their drug “pre-organized” for ribosomal binding.
Because it doesn't have to expend so much energy to adapt to its goal.
Scientists in Bonn discovered an extremely effective antibiotic in autumn 2023.
It is a substance produced from the soil by a bacterium native to North Carolina.
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