A team of scientists headed by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB, Spain) identified a new class of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) in proteins of the human body, a source of “natural antibiotics” capable of eliminating “multi -resistant” bacteria responsible for “serious” hospital infections.
As the UAB explained in a statement, the finding, which was published in the Molecular Scientific Journal Systems Biology, could open the door to “more effective” treatments against infections resistant to conventional antibiotics.
The study focused on analyzing more than a hundred glycosaminoglycan union proteins (HBP) “, which normally” help “processes such as blood coagulation or inflammation.
The researcher of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the UAB and work coordinator, Marc Torrent, explained that the investigation is based on a “curious” observation:
“Certain proteins of our body that bind to heparin, a molecule that regulates processes such as coagulation and inflammation, can also recognize similar structures found on the surface of dangerous bacteria.”
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From this idea, the researchers identified and synthesized fragments of these proteins with “antimicrobial potential” and selected five peptides that showed a “powerful” activity against gram -negative bacteria responsible for “serious” infections in hospitals.
One of the peptides, which they call ‘HBP-5’, was promising “especially”, since it not only eliminates bacteria in the laboratory in a “effective” way even in very low concentrations, but also acts in a sepsis model in infected mice, in which the treatment has managed to reduce the bacterial load in several organs in a “significant” way.
“These peptides stand out for their power and specificity, with very low toxicity in human cells, indicating that they could be safe as a basis for future treatments,” Torrent explained.
He added that “the door opens to a new family of antibiotics derived from proteins from the body, with the advantage that they can act specifically against resistant bacteria without affecting healthy cells.”
With EFE information
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