IBM Wants to Replace Antibiotics with Synthetic Molecules
Researchers think the molecule might be better at keeping up with evolving bacteria.
And while most involve finding new molecules or protein in bacteria or fungi, similar to the way Fleming found penicillin, researchers at IBM are taking a different approach: They’ve created a synthetic molecule that works in a novel way to kill each bacterium from the inside out.
Things like reducing the number of unnecessary cesarean sections, avoiding using antibiotics for infections that don’t respond to them (like the common cold or the flu) or that a person’s immune system will likely clear without help, and cutting down on their use in meat production will all help to stave off the increasing number of antibiotic resistant bacteria infecting us.
In May 2016 the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, a research group funded by the UK Department of Health, estimated that 700,000 people die each year from antibiotic resistant infections (these are bacteria that no currently available antibiotics are able to kill).
The researchers set out to address the scariest of antibiotic resistance scenarios: When a resistant strain of bacteria becomes systemic, spreading through the blood to every organ system in the body.
The synthetic molecule needs to be able to biodegrade—it can’t remain inside the body forever—and it also needs to effectively fight bacteria in a way that doesn’t negatively affect other organ systems in the body.
Since then, researchers have been on the hunt to find novel molecules, similar to penicillin, to treat the various bacteria and fungi that infect us.
It basically just comes in, kills the bacteria, degrades, and leaves.” So far, all of their studies have been done in mice, but Hendrick says his team is ready to move to human clinical trials.
And second, the discovery introduced the idea that we could use molecules found in bacteria and fungi to kill other bacteria—ones that cause infection and illness.
The problem with using that exact method when you have a systemic infection, Hedrick says, is that when you explode a bacterial cell in the body, it releases its toxins into the bloodstream.
“When you get an infection, right away your body secretes antimicrobial peptides, which is simply a fancy word for a polymer.” (A polymer, by the way, is also just a fancy word for a big molecule.) In recent years, many scientists have focused on creating these big molecules in the lab.
By 2050, an estimated 10 million people could die from this resistance if researchers don’t find a way to keep up with ever-evolving bacteria.
And while the drug may be able to stave off bacterial resistance for some time (Hendrick says it’s hard to predict for how long, exactly), that doesn’t mean it will work forever.
This means that even if the bacteria evolves, it’s still highly likely that the bacteria-fighting polymers will remain attracted to one area of the bacteria.
But instead of causing the bacteria to explode, the new synthetic polymers kill each bacterium from the inside out.
In the past, Hedrick says, synthetic polymers employed a similar method, where they would essentially explode each bacterium; obliterate it.
Existing drugs that kill highly resistant bacteria typically do so in exchange for toxicity to the liver and other organs.
Researchers have been working on creating synthetic molecules for some time now, but it’s been difficult.
“We are trying to emulate the exact way that our innate immune system works,” says James Hedrick, a researcher at IBM.