Discovery offers hope for new anti-infective drugs

In a groundbreaking study, researchers from the University of Nottingham have uncovered a new method for tackling a notorious superbug.

Resistant to many conventional antibiotics, Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes a wide range of infections, particularly among hospital patients, and is almost impossible to eradicate from the lungs of cystic fibrosis sufferers.

A research team from the university's Centre for Biomolecular Sciences looked at the ability of bacterial cells to "talk" to each other, using a process known as "quorum sensing" (QS).

This process allows populations of individual bacteria to act as a social group and assess their numerical strength, rather than acting as individuals.

Genes that are essential for for infection are controlled by this process in many disease-causing bacteria.

Scientists found that by interfering with the QS signalling process, it was possible to block bacterial virulence, meaning bacteria is unable to cause infection.

The findings, which have been published in PLOS Pathogens journal, offer hope for the development of new anti-infective drugs which do not kill bacteria, but instead block their ability to cause disease.

Jonas Emsley, professor of macromolecular crystallography, said: "This groundbreaking work establishes a platform for the future evaluation and further development of these new QS inhibitor compounds as potential drugs for the treatment of P. aeruginosa infections."

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Image courtesy of the University of Nottingham.