Treatment options for superbug infections, methicillin-resistant staphylococci aureus (MRSA), can be improved by using penicillin-type antibiotics that are ineffective on their own. This discovery was made by scientists from the University of Galway who published it in the journal mBio.
Antibiotic-resistant superbugs are one of the greatest threats to human health of our time. According to the study, penicillin-type drugs, which remain the most effective and safest antibiotics, act on MRSA when combined with purines. These are building blocks of human DNA.
“Nucleoside purines, Adenosine, Xanthine and Guanine are components of our DNA and our work has shown that they interfere with the signaling systems required in the cell of bacteria for antibiotic resistance”, said Dr. Merve S Zeden, one of the study leaders.
Drugs derived from purines are already used for the treatment of certain viral infections and certain cancers.
“Finding new ways to make superbugs susceptible to currently licensed antibiotics once more is an important step in efforts to tackle the MRSA crisis,” said Aaron Nolan, a researcher at the University of Galway who is also working on the subject.
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