Due to the increase of antibiotic resistance, research on alternative medications is running at full capacity. An international group of researchers under Swiss leadership has developed a type of "bait" for bacteria that could make it possible to combat them without using antibiotics. The study was presented in "Nature Biotechnology".
The research approach, led by scientists from the University of Bern, is based on artificial nanoparticles made of lipids found in body cells (liposomes). Normally, they are used to deliver medications. Here, the researchers engineered them in such a way that they attract bacterial toxins and neutralise them. This rendered the bacteria defenceless and enabled the immune cells to attack them.
"We have made an irresistible bait for bacterial toxins. The toxins are fatally attracted to the liposomes, and once they are attached, they can be eliminated easily without danger for the host cells", explained study leader Eduard Babiychuk.
Experiments with mice that had been treated with liposomes showed that they survived an otherwise fatal septicaemia and regained their health even without antibiotics. Since liposomes do not attack the pathogens directly, they cannot develop resistance, emphasised the researchers.
Univadis
