Star-shaped polymer may be the solution against drug-resistant bacteria
Health experts around the world have recently expressed their concern over the growing number of bacteria that are becoming resistant to various drugs and antibiotics. These ‘superbugs’ are listed as a key threat to human health by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the researchers in a new study, the rise of these superbugs will cause up to 10 million deaths per year by 2050. In addition, only one or two new antibiotics have been developed in the last 30 years.
But the team of researchers at the Melbourne School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne in Australia may have discovered a new way to battle these antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They found that tiny, star-shaped molecules are able to effectively kill bacteria that can no longer be killed by current antibiotics.
A 25-year-old Malaysian-Chinese PhD candidate in the university, Shu Lam, was the one who developed the polymer chain in the course of her thesis research in antimicrobials and superbugs.
These star-shaped structures are short chains of proteins called ‘peptide polymers’. They can destroy the antibiotic-resistant bacteria without harming the healthy cells around it. They can be used to attack superbugs physically, unlike antibiotics that attempt to kill these bugs chemically and killing nearby healthy cells in the process.
In an interview, she said that she has spent the past three and a half years researching polymers and looking at how they can be used to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria or superbugs. She also added that the star-shaped polymers work by tearing into the surface membrane of the bacteria, triggering the cell to kill itself.
Also a part of the research team is Lam’s PhD supervisor, Professor Greg Qiao. He said that bacteria don’t exhibit the same resistance to these polymers as it does to antibiotics, which means they can still be killed after multiple generations of mutations.
“The components of the polymer can also be tweaked differently depending on the application,” said Qiao.
Tests undertaken on red blood cells showed that the star-shaped polymer dosage rate would need to be increased by a factor of greater than 100 to become toxic. The star-shaped peptide polymer is also effective in killing superbugs when tested in animal models.
However, Lam’s research is still in early stages, according to Qiao, and much more work needs to be done to verify the best formula and structure, as well as to reduce the dosage and further test toxicity before the substance is completely safe for the human cell.
But the researchers believe that their discovery is the beginning of unlocking a new treatment for antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
