The dangerous pathogen Staphylococcus aureus causes infections ranging from skin abscesses toxic shock syndrome. About a third of currently isolated strains from patients who acquire S. aureus then hospital infections are resistant to all antibiotics except one, vancomycin - and now the resistance to this antibiotic began cropping. But new research suggests an approach to the fight against S. aureus that can bypass the ability of the organism to develop resistance.
In Science tomorrow , the researchers say they can decresase the incidence and severity of S. aureus infections in mice by blocking the ativity of a protein called RAP, which controls the production of toxins and other proteins that make the pathogenic bacterium. The work suggests that disabling RAP - perhaps by vaccinating people with the protein so that the immune system takes out of commission, or by developing drugs that prevent it from doing its job - could keep microbe to spread in the body before the patient's immune system exhausts outside. These drugs do not directly kill the organism, and in the absence of such selective pressures, resistant strains may be less likely to develop.
Naomi Balaban, a researcher of infectious diseases at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento discovered RAP and its role in the last few years. His previous work has suggested that S. aureus multiplies it secretes HBP. When the protein reaches a critical concentration, it sends a signal which activates genes for toxin production. This suggested, Balaban said, the protein could be a good target for prevention strategies. She and her colleagues inoculated mice with purified RAP from S. aureus cultures. Vaccinated animals developed antibodies to RAP, and when the researchers injected S. aureus under the skin of animals, only 28% developed skin lesions, against 70% of controls.
Because it takes weeks to mount an immune response, such a vaccine could benefit those whose risk could be expected, such as diabetics and kidney dialysis and surgery patients. But "it opens up a new strategy for treating or preventing one of the most serious nosocomial infections that we strongly support," said Julie Gerberding, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. "The methods that prevent disease without selection for drug resistance could really help us. - And we're going to need help quickly"
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