A New Decade; a New Class of Antibiotic
Written by Rachel Larson
Edited by Sameeha Salman
May 2, 2021
Edited by Sameeha Salman
May 2, 2021
Ever since the invention of the first antibiotic in 1928, humans have been in an evolutionary arms race with the infectious bacteria that are the cause of so many illnesses. While scientists discover clever ways to kill these harmful parasites, bacteria continue to evolve novel mechanisms to build resistance to our drugs.
Most antibiotics are chemicals extracted from bacteria that evolved to sabotage neighboring cultures with toxins. Once these toxins are isolated we can use them to cure ourselves of infection. However, overuse of antibiotics have helped these bacteria evolve new mechanisms to fight antibiotics faster than chance alone. With a recent decline in the production of new antibiotics the rates of bacterial resistance to all antibiotics have skyrocketed to the point that the Center of Disease Control has called antibiotic resistance bacteria one of the “biggest threats” we are facing today (CDC, 2020). For the past few decades, more and more strains of super-bacteria -bacteria that can resist all antibiotics- have been emerging, and our only solution to stop them is to create a new class of antibiotics.
When trying to find a new antibiotic two criteria must be met: the antibiotic must kill the bacteria while not harming the patient. Though it is relatively easy to find chemicals that can kill bacterial cells, preventing the chemicals from attacking human cells is a more challenging feat. The key is to find an antibiotic that targets cellular structures that are unique to bacteria alone. In a recently published article by Nature, scientists at the Wistar Institute in the United States have reported a novel class of antibiotics that shows promise in killing even the most resistant bacteria. The drug, a compound they named C23-TPP, works by inhibiting a bacterial enzyme called IspH which synthesizes molecules necessary for a cell wall and cell respiration called isoprenoids (Singh et al, 2020). Human cells don’t have a cell wall or the IspH enzyme, so the toxic effects of IspH inhibition does not extend to us. Once in cells, C23-TPP latches on to the spot where IspH usually makes isoprenoids and prevents enzymatic activity essentially plugging up the enzyme. As excess material typically used in isoprenoid formation builds up in the bacterial cell, the cell wall starts to deteriorate and cellular respiration shuts down (Singh et al, 2020). The scientists’ results showed that administration of C23-TPP was successful in breaking down the cell wall, signaling the prospect of this compound being used as an antibiotic in human patients.
While this is a very promising discovery for the field of antibiotics, there is still more testing that must be done before this class of antibiotics can be released into the market. The drug was tested on cell cultures, not actual patients, so further trials must be conducted before we can deem it safe and effective for human use. Nevertheless, once this drug is on the market doctors can use it to treat patients suffering from antibiotic resistant bacterial infections, a class of diseases that kills at least 23,000 patients every year (CDC, 2020). Hopefully, this exciting new discovery can help quell the antibiotic resistance epidemic in our nation.
Works Cited
Center for Disease Control. (2020, October 28). Biggest Threats and Data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/biggest-threats.html#:%7E:text=The%20report%20stated%20that%20each,at%20least%2023%2C000%20people%20die.
Singh, K., Sharma, R., Reddy, P., Vonteddu, P., Good, M., Sundarrajan, A., . . . Dotiwala, F. (2020, December 23). IspH inhibitors kill Gram-negative bacteria and mobilize immune clearance. Retrieved January 19, 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03074-x
https://wistar.org/news/press-releases/wistar-reports-new-class-antibiotics-active-against-wide-range-bacteria