Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/health-science/heres-why-the-rise-of-superbugs-is-so-dangerous/2019/01/23/234dd347-6a74-4a0e-a203-5d9551035495_video.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/health-science/heres-why-the-rise-of-superbugs-is-so-dangerous/2019/01/23/234dd347-6a74-4a0e-a203-5d9551035495_video.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4e7c09b944fa

"Molecular Tweeting" Could Hold the Key to Busting Superbugs A broader understanding of bacterial social networks might help scientists combat antibiotic resistance Indeed interesting, although bit old article, sounded very interesting. Just stumbled on it this morning!  

Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is currently the frontline antiviral drug employed to fight the flu virus in infected individuals by inhibiting neuraminidase, a flu protein responsible for the release of newly synthesized virions. However, oseltamivir resistance has become a critical problem due to rapid mutation of the flu virus. Unfortunately, how mutations actually confer drug resistance is not well understood. In this study, we employ molecular dynamics (MD) and steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations, as well as graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated electrostatic mapping, to uncover the mechanism behind point mutation induced oseltamivir-resistance in both H5N1 “avian” and H1N1pdm “swine” flu N1-subtype neuraminidases. The simulations reveal an electrostatic binding funnel that plays a key role in directing oseltamivir into and out of its binding site on N1 neuraminidase. The binding pathway for oseltamivir suggests how mutations disrupt drug binding and how new drugs may circumve...

The problem with antibiotics is that, eventually, bacteria outsmart them and become resistant. But by targeting the gene that confers such resistance, a new drug may be able to finally outwit them. Rockefeller University scientists tested the new drug, called Ceftobiprole, against some of the deadliest strains of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria, which are responsible for the great majority of staphylococcal infections worldwide, both in hospitals and in the community. The research, to be published in the August 2008 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy , looked at how well Ceftobiprole worked against bacterial clones that had already developed resistance to other drugs. In every case, Ceftobiprole won. “It just knocked out the cells 100 percent,” says the study’s lead investigator, Alexander Tomasz, head of the Laboratory of Microbiology at Rockefeller. Previous research had already shown that — in general — Ceftobiprole was highly effect...

Novartis has decided to acquire Protez Pharmaceuticals for $100 million at close of the agreement. Novartis will pay up to $300 million if certain clinical milestones, regulatory approvals, and commercial targets are achieved. Protez will become a stand-alone subsidiary of Novartis, maintaining its operations in Malvern, PA. Protez’ only clinical candidate, PZ-601, is an injectable antibiotic in the carbapenems class of agents. Protez commenced a 100-patient Phase II study for PZ-601 in May 2008 in the U.S. to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PZ-601 in patients with complicated skin and skin structure infections, including cellulites, abscesses, infected wounds, and ulcers. The firms believe that this compound has the potential to be used in bacterial infections resistant to other medicines including MRSA. “This acquisition,” remarks Christopher M. Cashman, Protez president and CEO, “underscores our company’s infectious disease expertise and novel antimicrobial programs. We beli...

Drug resistant tuberculosis is posing a growing threat in the UK, probably fuelled by immigration, say experts. Many of these patients came from sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent, where they may have developed immunity to the drug. They found the proportion of cases resistant to any of the first-line drugs rose from 5.6% to 7.9%. The British Medical Journal study also found a small increase in cases of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). BBC Report

Using chemical genomics , researchers from Stanford University and the University of Toronto demonstrated that the majority of yeast nonessential single deletions exhibit growth defects when exposed to certain chemical or environmental stress. They also identified new candidate multi-drug resistance genes and demonstrated how clustering genes based on their co-fitness can provide clues about their function. The work appeared online today in Science . “The emergent field of chemical genomics promises that, by understanding the relations between small molecules and genes on a systems level, we might understand genomic responses to small molecule perturbants,” Do you want to know more? see also