The rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has become a global health concern, leading researchers to search for alternative treatments for drug-resistant infections. Scientists have recently discovered an antibiotic-free approach to treating such infections in a promising breakthrough. This new approach involves using a naturally occurring protein and a common household chemical to kill bacteria without relying on antibiotics. This discovery can potentially revolutionize how we approach bacterial infections and offers hope in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
As per The Journal of Investigative Dermatology and published by Science Alert, researchers have discovered a method to heal “golden staph,” a skin infection that has plagued certain cancer patients and is a source of concern for hospital visitors worldwide, without the use of antibiotics. Staphylococcus aureus, sometimes known as golden staph, was eradicated in biopsy samples from persons with cutaneous lymphoma by researchers at the University of Copenhagen using a synthetic version of an enzyme usually generated by bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria).
Many people with cutaneous lymphoma are infected with a drug-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus, according to Niels Dum, an immunologist at the University of Copenhagen: “To individuals who are ill with cutaneous lymphoma, staphylococci can be a significant, often insurmountable problem.”
We don’t offer antibiotics to everyone who needs them because we don’t want to deal with more resistant infections. As a result, it “elucidates the meaning of dum” to uncover novel ways of treating and, more importantly, avoiding these disorders.S. aureus is a widespread and frequently innocuous resident of the skin and nasal passages in humans. Yet, because it is an opportunistic pathogen, it can cause anything from a minor skin infection like a boil or abscess to life-threatening pneumonia or sepsis in a host with a weakened immune system.
The proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a critical and developing concern in medical settings. S. aureus can enter the bloodstream after surgery or through medical devices such as catheters by breaching the epidermal and mucosal barriers (snot). When patients receiving immunosuppressive medicines, such as chemotherapy, enter the hospital, they are more likely to contract lethal “superbugs” that have developed to resist routine treatment.
Bacterial infections are more common in people with cutaneous lymphoma than in the general population. Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is a kind of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that occurs when malignant T cells migrate to the skin. Before spreading throughout the body, abnormal immune cells initially develop, creating rashes and lesions.S. aureus quickly resurfaces in skin lesions after patients with CTCL have finished a course of antibiotics, aggravating their cancer symptoms. This is because S. aureus produces enterotoxins, which are considered to drive the spread of CTCL.
Hospitals have significantly reduced MRSA infections, but new drug-resistant superbugs are swiftly displacing them. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a strain of Staphylococcus aureus that has evolved resistance to methicillin. Dum and his colleagues examined a novel class of antibacterial medicines known as endolysins in this work.
Endolysins are enzymes generated by bacteria-infecting viruses known as bacteriophages. Peptidoglycans are cell wall scaffolding that may be ripped apart to kill pathogenic bacteria. Peptidoglycans unique to each bacterial species may be the preferred endolysin targets. The effects of endolysin XZ.700 on normal and CTCL-affected skin were examined in this investigation.
“The surprising thing about this enzyme is that it has been produced to penetrate the wall of Staphylococcus aureus,” says Emil Pallesen, a researcher in immunology at the University of Copenhagen and the study’s lead author. It enables the “targeting and destruction of harmful staphylococci while preserving innocuous skin bacteria. “Endolysin XZ.700 decreased tumor formation and was effective against S. aureus strains obtained from CTCL patients in vitro utilizing malignant T cell lines. Both healthy skin samples and biopsies of lesioned skin from CTCL patients were found to be “profoundly” free of S. aureus after treatment with endolysin.
Endolysins, according to Dum, not only kill Staphylococcus aureus in skin samples, but they also prevent the organism from spreading malignancy. These petri dish research findings on skin biopsies are promising, but we are still far from finding a natural treatment for skin diseases and cancer. Endolysin XZ.700 has demonstrated potential in eradicating drug-resistant strains such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and biofilms, which are microbe colonies that are notoriously difficult to remove. According to a recent laboratory investigation, there is reason to assume this is conceivable, barring the emergence of endolysin-resistant S. aureus.
This latter point is critical because bacteria are resourceful creatures that may create novel antibiotic resistance mechanisms considerably quicker than humans can generate new medications to combat them. Endolysins, which are helpful against staph infections, may also be outwitted by bacteria; hence, further study is required to validate this. Antibiotic resistance will kill more people this year than cancer and heart disease combined. Novel anti-drug-resistant bacteria techniques may benefit more than people living with simply cutaneous lymphoma.
