Antibiotic-Free Treatment For Resistant Infections? Scientists May Have Found a Potential Solution

Researchers have discovered an antibiotic-free treatment for skin infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, also known as the "golden staph," which threatens hospital goers and torments some cancer patients.

Staphylococcus Aureus and Antibiotic Resistance

In most staphylococci bacterial infection cases, the infection will simply pass without the need for further treatment, as noted by Science Daily. However, in severe cases, it may need antibiotics to eradicate the bacteria.

The reality is that most people- even those who feel alright- carry the bacteria inside their nose, which is an ideal and moist environment that enables the bacteria to thrive.

However, there is an increasing number of staphylococci that are turning antibiotic-resistant. They are also known as multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Such infections can be hard to treat. This resistance is why antibiotics should not be offered to everyone.

Professor Niels Ødum, who is from the University of Copenhagen's LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Research Center, says that on a global scale antibiotic resistance has become a pressing concern. When antibiotics don't work on a relatively simple infection, things could end up messy, unpleasant, and even fatal.

Given this pressing threat, it is no surprise that global efforts are being exerted to combat antibiotic resistance, especially in staphylococci infections.

Antibiotic-Free Treatment for Golden Staph

Now, researchers were able to discover an antibiotic-free treatment for the golden staph. According to Science Alert, the researchers made use of an enzyme's artificial version. Bacteriophages, which are bacteria-infecting viruses, naturally produce such enzymes. It was then used to eradicate the bacteria in biopsy samples taken from skin lymphoma patients. The study was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

As per Science Alert, skin lymphoma patients are particularly susceptible to getting bacterial infections. Known as CTCL (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), the condition is a rare non-Hodgkin lymphoma form that begins with the cancerous T cells moving to the skin. This leads to lesions and rashes before reaching other body parts.

Staphylococci release substances known as enterotoxins, which are assumed to boost CTCL progression. This is because, when CTCL patients finish an antibiotic round, staphylococci may quickly surface in skin lesions. This, in turn, could worsen cancer symptoms.

Considering the prevalence of MRSA, the researchers tried experimenting with a new antibacterial agent known as endolysins.

These agents are actually enzymes that bacteriophages naturally produce. After the infection, these agents break down molecules known as peptidoglycans, which form scaffolds that are like mesh in the cell wall of the bacteria. This, then, eradicates the bacteria starting from the inside.

The study tested one specific endolysin, XZ.700. It was tested on skin samples taken from CTCL patients and those who had healthy skin.

In the course of the tests, XZ.700 eradicates staphylococci strains that were isolated from CTCL patients. It also blocked the effects that promoted tumor growth on cancerous T cells that were lab-grown.

As per Science Alert, the enzyme treatments also profoundly inhibited the bacteria from colonizing healthy skin samples and lesioned skin biopsies among CTCL patients. It also shed off colonies of staphylococcus that settle on the skin that had been biopsied.

Ødum says that their tests reveal that the endolysin enzyme does not just eradicate the bacteria but that it also inhibits its capacity to promote the growth of cancer.

Despite how such experiments conducted in the lab are still far from real-life treatments of cancer and skin infections, their results are still quite promising. The researchers are hopeful that XZ.700 could eradicate strains that are drug-resistant.

Another key is that with bacteria consistently finding new ways to overpower antibiotics faster than drug development pursuits, there is a further need to know if such enzymes give in to such bacterial agility or if they can stand firm in the fight against these bacterial infections.

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