Man-made 'defensin' rips resistant bacteria apart


	Man-made 'defensin' rips resistant bacteria apart

Silkweaver

5-24-2008 6:01 AM

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tags:

medicine, anti bacterial drugs

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/01f92d5d-e2e4-4eb2-8208-d20be9707164/A568FE3D-030F-4F95-88A1-F2FE1489D576/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13924-manmade-defensin-rips-resistant-bacteria-apart.html" href="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13924-manmade-defensin-rips-resistant-bacteria-apart.html" style="font-size: 11px;">technology.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13924-manmade-defensin-rips-resistant-bacteria-apart.html">A mimic of the potent proteins used by white blood cells to punch holes in bacteria is to begin clinical trials in Canada. It could be a valuable new weapon against the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant "<A href="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19526231.500-superbugs-scare-in-the-community.html" linkindex="25" set="yes">superbugs</A>".</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13924-manmade-defensin-rips-resistant-bacteria-apart.html"><A target="ns" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocyte" linkindex="26" set="yes">Phagocyte immune cells</A> that engulf bacteria use <A target="ns" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensin" linkindex="27">defensins</A> to digest their prey. These small molecules are electrically attracted to the bacterium's outer membrane, and fuse with it to create gaping holes that destroy invaders.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13924-manmade-defensin-rips-resistant-bacteria-apart.html">The complexity of bacterial cells's outer membranes means they cannot easily evolve to become resistant to defensins.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13924-manmade-defensin-rips-resistant-bacteria-apart.html">His research team stripped down the structure of natural defensins to just the essential membrane-busting components, making one small enough to go undetected by the immune system.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13924-manmade-defensin-rips-resistant-bacteria-apart.html">In a standard measure of the risk of bacteria evolving resistance to a new treatment, the defensin outstripped conventional antibiotics.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A568FE3D-030F-4F95-88A1-F2FE1489D576/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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