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Team finds way to 'disarm' common hospital superbug

"The advantage is, the drug does not kill the bacteria directly, making it less likely to develop resistance."

Liu Chia-i, lead author

A team comprised of Taiwanese and US scientists say they have discovered a novel way to "disarm" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)with medication designed to lower cholesterol.

The research, published on Thursday in the online version of ScienceXpress is a collaborative effort between the scientists of Academia Sinica, the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US.

"Instead of killing the bacteria with an anti-bacterial, we have found a way to make it take off its armor," lead author of the research Liu Chia-i (劉佳宜) said yesterday.

The media have dubbed MRSA a "superbug" because of its resistance to conventional antibiotics. Especially prevalent in hospitals and other medical institutions, MRSA infections have been rising sharply in recent years as the bacteria mutates and develops even more resistance.

Staphylococcus aureus is so named because of the golden pigment Staphyloxanthin produced by the bacteria. A coating of Staphyloxanthin protects the bacteria from the body's immune system, Liu said.

"The production process of Staphyloxanthin is similar with the production process of cholesterol in the human body." Liu said. "This explains why a medicine used to inhibit cholesterol production will simultaneously inhibit Staphyloxanthin production."

Stripped of its golden armor, the superbug is defenseless against the body's immune system, Liu said.

"The advantage is, the drug does not kill the bacteria directly, making it less likely to develop resistance," Liu said.

The cholesterol-lowering drug used by the team is not yet on the market, however, trials have already been conducted establishing it's safety. For now, it is known as vph-652.

The scientists on the team not only come from different countries, but also from different fields.

Liu explained that the initial insight that started the project came from chemistry professor Eric Oldfield of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"The University of Illinois took care of the chemistry component, UCSD researchers did the bioessays while the team at the Institute of Biological Chemistry at Academia Sinica did the structural biology," Liu said. "We were responsible for determining the 3D structure of the relevant proteins and seeing how it all fit together."
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