A team of scientists led by experts in Scotland has made a breakthrough that could pave the way for a new approach to treating bacterial infections by "disarming" bugs instead of trying to kill them with antibiotics.
They have discovered a common type of bacteria responsible for conditions from sore throats to the flesh-eating disease necrotising fasciitis could simply be disarmed by disabling chemical "harpoons" it uses to hold on to its hosts.
The discovery of these so-called harpoons has been described as a major step in understanding infections.
New research, led by St Andrews University and the independent John Innes Centre in Norwich, has revealed how the Streptococcus pyogenes bacterium attaches itself to the body.
The tactic is shared by many other bacteria that infect humans, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, the most common cause of pneumonia in adults, and Clostridium difficile, notorious for causing severe gut infections in hospital patients.
Dr Uli Schwarz-Linek, structural biologist of the Biomedical Sciences Research Complex at St Andrews, who led the study, said that among the "weapons" used by bacteria are protein molecules within hair-like structures on their surface.
"These serve the important purpose of allowing bacteria to cling to host tissues, such as the cells lining the lung or the gut.
"We have discovered how bacteria use surface proteins to achieve this important step in infections using a surprising and particularly efficient method.
"I believe these findings may significantly change our view of how bacteria colonise their hosts. Our discoveries open an avenue for the development of molecules that can deactivate the chemical harpoons and therefore prevent bacteria from gaining a foothold in the body. This is of great interest since it concerns a topic of the highest possible relevance for our society - the fight against bacterial infections."
Dr Mark Banfield from the John Innes Centre added: "It has been very exciting to build on our initial discovery of the unusual bond these bacteria make with their host - and to now appreciate how that bond works - all enabled through international collaborative research."
Dr Des Walsh, Head of Infections and Immunity at the Medical Research Council (MRC), which bankrolled the research, said: "Before we can develop new ways of fighting anti-microbial resistance (AMR), we need to fully understand how bacteria survive.
"It is exciting that MRC-funded researchers have discovered a unique insight into how bacteria invade and seize healthy tissue.
"We recently awarded an additional £5 million towards AMR research, and we will continue to support the best, collaborative research that explores new and promising ways to solve the challenge."
In recent years health experts have warned that an over-reliance on these treatments has led to the spread of drug-resistant "superbugs".
Some experts predict that in 20 years treatments ranging from chemotherapy to simple surgery will become impossible because they rely on antibiotics.
The St Andrews and the John Innes Centre study is published by the scientific journal eLife.
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