MRSA - antibiotic resistance

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Theory Shows Mechanism Behind Delayed Development Of Antibiotic Resistance:

Main Category: MRSA / Drug Resistance

Also Included: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses; Biology / Biochemistry

Article Date: 06 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

" Inhibiting the " drug efflux pumps " in bacteria, which function as their defence

mechanisms against antibiotics, can mask the effect of mutations that have led

to resistance in the form of low-affinity drug binding to target molecules in

the cell. This is shown by researchers at Uppsala University in a new study that

can provide clues to how the development of resistance to antibiotics in

bacteria can be delayed.

" The introduction of antibiotics as drugs in the treatment of bacterial

infections in the post-WWII years was a revolutionized medicine, and

dramatically improved the health condition on a global scale. Now, 60 years

later, growing antibiotic resistance among pathogens has heavily depleted the

arsenal of entailed effective antibiotic drugs.

" Antibiotics function by attacking vital molecules in bacteria. Bacteria, in

turn, protect themselves either by using " drug efflux pumps " for antibiotics or

through mutations that reduce the binding of the antibiotic to its target

molecules inside the bacteria cell. Through these changes, bacteria develop

resistance to antibiotics.

" The new study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy

of Sciences in the US. Professor Måns Ehrenberg's research team at Uppsala

University has shown experimentally and theoretically explained how the

inhibition of these drug efflux pumps can completely mask the resistance effect

of mutations that reduce the affinity of antibiotics to their target molecules

in the bacteria cell. The effect of the mutations is entirely hidden when the

pumps are unable to remove the antibiotic sufficiently quickly in relation to

the dilution of the antibiotic through cell growth and cell division. "

Copied & pasted from the following article:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149043.php

FYI,

Lottie