V. ALTOUNIAN, SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINEBacteria that have evolved resistance to ß-lactam antibiotics can be rendered susceptible once again if the drugs are combined with newly identified small molecule adjuvants called tarocins. Researchers at the pharmaceutical company Merck announced their discovery in a Science paper today (March 9), showing that a cocktail of ß-lactam antibiotic and tarocin could successfully treat mice infected with a normally resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus.
The authors found “an interesting way to resensitize resistant bacteria to agents that are absolutely fantastic when they work,” said medicinal chemist Amy Anderson of the University of Connecticut who was not involved in the research. “ß-lactams are . . . the go-to antibiotics and being able to get that sensitivity back is absolutely critical.”
ß-lactam antibiotics, which include penicillins such as methicillin, kill bacteria by targeting enzymes that are necessary for producing peptidoglycan—the major component of the bugs’ cell walls. But some species of bacteria—for example, methicillin-resistant S. aureus and S. epidermidis (MRSA and MRSE)—have acquired resistant forms of these enzymes allowing the bugs to proliferate unhindered by the drugs.
MRSA and MRSE are both major causes of difficult-to-treat infections, particularly in hospitals, with ...
