Supercharged antibiotics show promise in combating rise of superbugs

Researchers at the University of Queensland recently “supercharged” an old antibiotic by modifying its membrane-binding properties to successfully attack deadly antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, or superbugs.

Mark Blaskovich and Matt Cooper of the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) modified the drug vancomycin. The drug has been used to treat deadly bacterial infections, but bacteria have become more and more resistant to it over the years.

“The rise of vancomycin-resistant bacteria, and the number of patients dying from resistant infections that cannot be successfully treated, stimulated our team to look at ways to revitalize old antibiotics,” Blaskovich said. “We did this by modifying vancomycin’s membrane-binding properties to selectively bind to bacterial membranes rather than those of human cells, creating a series of supercharged vancomycin derivatives called vancapticins.”

The supercharged drug has effectively treated methicillin-resistant staphylococcus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Given that drug companies have transitioned away from the antibiotic discovery field, Cooper said, reengineering techniques have become a core focus of researchers.

“Drug development is normally focused on improving binding to a biological target, and rarely focuses on assessing membrane-binding properties,” Cooper said. “This approach worked with the vancapticins, and the question now is whether it can be used to revitalize other antibiotics that have lost effectiveness against resistant bacteria.”

Currently, superbugs cause approximately 700,000 deaths per year. By 2050, the U.K. government predicts the number of superbug-related deaths could rise to 10 million per year.

“Given the alarming rise of multi-drug resistant bacteria and the length of time it takes to develop a new antibiotic, we need to look at any solution that could fix the antibiotic drug discovery pipeline now,” Cooper said.