A group such as the Jikei University School of Medicine announced that it succeeded in killing bacteria for which antibacterial drugs do not work by attaching a chemical substance that reacts to light to an antibody that binds to a pathogen, and a new infectious disease It is expected that it will lead to various treatments.
The research was conducted by a group of associate professor Tadayuki Iwase and lecturer Masato Mitsunaga of the Jikei University School of Medicine, and published in the scientific journal "Communications Biology".
The research group attached a chemical that changes shape when exposed to light and destroys the pathogen to an antibody that binds to Staphylococcus aureus and puts it in a test tube containing the bacterium.
Then, when the test tube was exposed to near-infrared rays, it was confirmed that the resistant Staphylococcus aureus, to which the antibacterial drug did not work, was killed in a few minutes.
Furthermore, while the effect was confirmed in experiments using mice, it did not affect other bacteria in the intestine, and it was said that only the targeted bacteria were killed.
A therapeutic drug with the same mechanism as this method has been approved for head cancer, and the research group has spread it to other bacteria and around the world by artificially creating antibodies that bind to pathogens. It is said that it can be applied to the treatment of infectious diseases caused by resistant bacteria and viruses.
Lecturer Mitsunaga said, "Because you have to shine light, there is a problem that it is difficult if the infection spreads throughout the body, but I would like to select an infectious disease that can be expected to be effective and proceed with research for practical use." increase.