In 1928, the first proper antibiotic was accidentally discovered by a professor of bacteriology named Alexander Fleming. Antibiotics became one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, preventing untold millions of deaths from sickness worldwide.
Unfortunately, bacteria have increasingly evolved resistance to the drugs after decades of overuse. It’s predicted that without intervention, these “superbugs” could be accountable for up to ten million deaths per year by 2050.
With superbugs poising a significant health threat in the near future, the world desperately needs new drugs and treatments. Thankfully, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) have recently engineered antimicrobial molecules from wasp venom, which showed promising results in mice’s tests.
César de la Fuente, the study’s senior author, said:
New antibiotics are urgently needed to treat the ever-increasing number of drug-resistant infections, and venoms are an untapped source of novel potential drugs. We think that venom-derived molecules such as the ones we engineered in this study are going to be a valuable source of new antibiotics.
The UPenn team began by collecting a highly toxic peptide, known as mastoparan-L (mast-L), from the Korean yellow-jacket wasp’s venom. Mast-L kills bacteria, but it can be harmful to humans because it destroys red blood cells and triggers anaphylaxis in some people. Therefore, the researchers had to modify the peptide.
Since most of the toxicity comes from a section at the end of the peptide, the team replaced this part with a pentapeptide motif, an area of known antimicrobial peptides actively against bacteria. The result was a new molecule; the researchers dubbed mastoparan-MO (mast-MO).
Then, the team tested mast-MO in mice infected with deadly levels of Staphylococcus aureus or E. coli. Mice treated with mast-MO appeared to be protected in most cases, with 80% of the animals surviving, while those who received the mast-L peptide were far less likely to survive.
The researchers also found evidence of how the molecule works against bacteria. It seemed to summon more immune cells to the site, and it turned the bacteria’s outer membrane more porous, allowing molecules to seep into them more accessible. These findings suggest that antimicrobial response could improve even further if mast-MO is combined with other drugs.
The UPenn team published the research on October 12 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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