CM – Researchers are discovering a way to make antibiotics more effective

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October 25, 2021

from Monash University

A multidisciplinary project spearheaded by researchers from EMBL Australia at Monash University and Harvard University has found a way to make antibiotics more effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria – also known as « superbugs ».

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Antimicrobial resistance to superbacteria has evolved and is one of the top 10 global public health threats humanity faces, according to the World Health Organization.

This new research will open a way to increase the effectiveness of antibiotics without clinicians having to resort to risky strategies to give patients higher doses or rely on the discovery of new types of antibiotics.

While In bacterial infection, the body uses molecules called chemoattractors to recruit neutrophils to the site of infection. Neutrophils are immune cells with the ability to encapsulate and kill dangerous bacteria that are critical to the immune response. The researchers combined an antibiotic with a chemo-attractant, which enabled them to improve immune cell recruitment and their ability to kill.

“When we look at how our immune system can fight bacteria, we look at two important aspects. The first is our ability to trap and kill bacterial cells that direct the immune system’s response to clear an infection, « said Dr. Jennifer Payne, lead researcher at EMBL Australia and the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute.

The researchers linked a chemoattractant, known as formyl peptide, with vancomycin, a commonly used antibiotic that binds to the surface of bacteria, and conducted their studies on Golden Staph infections, one of the more problematic antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

« We’ve been working on the use of Dual-function antibiotic chemoattractors « hybrids » that improve neutrophil recruitment and increase bacterial envelopment and killing, « said Dr. Payne.

 » By stimulating our strong immune system in this way with the immunotherapeutic antibiotic , we have shown in mouse models that the treatment is 2 times more effective than Ve alone using the antibiotic at a dose one-fifth lower, « said Associate Professor Max Cryle, an EMBL Australia Group Leader at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute.

« This very promising new research path brings many potential benefits to the ever-growing threat from drug-resistant superbacteria, » said Associate Professor Cryle.

Fundamental to the project was funding from VESKI and the Melbourne Partner City Foundation, which Dr. Payne around the world to Boston to study and learn microfluidic research and with Associate Professor Daniel Irima and Dr. Felix Ellett, Harvard experts in the field.

“Microfluidics pioneered this research as it allowed us to generate an infection on a chip to monitor recruitment of human immune cells and see in real time how our immunotherapeutic enhances their ability to kill MRSA what would happen in our bodies, « said Dr. Payne,

Partners are being sought to continue this research in clinical trials with the potential to develop a preventive antibiotic strategy in the critical care setting to protect our most vulnerable.

The work has resulted in a patent for the immunotherapeutic, the intellectual property of which is owned by Monash University.

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