New research shows that when antibiotics are administered with an enzyme called endolysin, the binding effect protects against infection by bacterial resistance in all body organs.
Two important classes of antibiotics are betalactams (such as penicillin) and macrolides (such as erythromycin) that are used to treat life-threatening infectious diseases such as meningitis. The fact that disease-causing bacteria are becoming resistant is a serious concern as patients suffering from the disease risk permanent brain and neurological damage.
“There are two main issues with meningitis: antibiotics cross the blood-brain barrier and increase in bacterial resistance,” explained Principal Federico Iovino, associate professor and research group leader in the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute.
“Our results show that endolysin supplementation can restore the efficacy of antibiotics, even when bacteria are resistant.”
Protects human cells from bacterial resistance
Protein endolysin is an enzyme derived from bacteriophage viruses that kill bacteria by breaking down bacterial cells.
In the lab, the researchers found that endolysin, called Cpl-1, protects human cells from blood and cerebrospinal fluid when exposed to pneumococcus (pneumococcus), which is resistant to penicillin or erythromycin. These pneumococcus are the leading cause of meningitis worldwide. The researchers successfully experimented with endolysin in combination with penicillin or erythromycin.
Niels Vander Elst, a postdoctoral researcher with the Federico Iovino group, said:
Antibiotics quickly enter the brain
The researchers then used an animal model of meningitis in which mice were infected with penicillin-resistant pneumococcus. Only endolysin was protected from infection, but not penicillin alone.
When mice received a combination of antibiotics and endolysin, they were protected from disease, and the antibiotic recovered its efficacy.
Dr. Iovino said: “It takes time for antibiotics to get past the blood-brain barrier for more than a few days, but endolysin can enter the brain very quickly within hours.
“Its speed is an important unique property, as brain neurons begin to get damaged as soon as they are present. It also has another important advantage: the time to develop resistance will not become bacteria.”
Further testing of other resistant bacteria
Researchers are currently studying the effectiveness of endolysin with other types of resistant bacteria, making it possible to use it as a powerful weapon against bacterial resistance that causes serious diseases, including meningitis.
“For the first time, I have shown that endolysin is effective against bacteria that cause meningitis,” concluded Dr. Iovino.
“Our data also bridges the gaps in previous knowledge by passing through blood-brain barriers and showing that antibiotics can restore efficacy against bacterial resistance.”
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