Scientists Could Send Drug-Resistant Bacteria Fake Messages To Stop Infection

Scientists want to do espionage on a microbial level, hijacking the signals of harmful bacteria and sending them different messages while they invade someone’s body. Those false messages could disable the bacteria and stop infection in a way that does not contribute to increased antibiotic resistance.

The University of Illinois has explained that a team of researchers found out how bacteria talk to others of their kind when they are on the defensive, specifically an important communication in which bacteria tell their relatives to slow down during their invasion. Doctors could potentially use that information to interfere with the transmissions and treat infection.

“Bacteria are intelligent little organisms,” study co-author Satish Nair said in the university statement. “They can survive almost anywhere and quickly adapt to new conditions.”

Their ability to communicate with one another while backed into a corner plays a role in that hardiness.

According to the university, the chemical signals tell bacteria to attack and kill another species of microbe with which it is competing for nutrients, or to become dormant and slow down their growth while those resources are scarce.

In their study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe those signals the bacteria use to communicate to their comrades that they need to slow their growth. They suggest scientists, based on that information, can create molecules designed to interfere with the signals of an individual species of bacteria and use them for medical benefit. And that could solve a major problem in modern medicine.

“We don’t need to kill bacteria to treat disease and infection; we can just slow them down and make them less potent,” Nair said. “That way, there is little chance for any resistance to develop.”

Working around drug resistance is a big issue for doctors. According to the World Health Organization, antibiotics are becoming less and less effective against bacterial infections like tuberculosis and gonorrhea, making those dangerous illnesses difficult to treat. This effect is happening all over the globe and, although bacteria naturally become resistant to drugs, the crisis stems from people using antibiotics incorrectly — taking them when they do not need to or failing to complete their treatment.

“Without urgent action, we are heading for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill,” the WHO says.

Statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that at least 23,000 Americans die every year from drug-resistant infections, and many more contract the infections.

“Ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, we have been using antibiotic molecules developed by one microorganism to kill another microorganism,” Nair said. “Unfortunately, the bacteria have quickly adapted to resist antibiotics, and in a short time, antibiotics will be ineffective.”

Part of the problem is how bacteria share their resistance traits with one another.

“Broad-spectrum antibiotics and the overuse of antibiotics are problematic because antibiotics kill off many types of bacteria, even good ones, and the survivors figure out ways to adapt, sharing their strategies with other bacteria,” researcher Shi-Hui Dong said.

Hijacking bacteria’s chemical signals is not the only way scientists are trying to treat infection without adding to antibiotic resistance. Another team reported earlier this summer that they discovered enzymes that could break down bacteria’s protective outer armor, called a biofilm, and thus take away their defense system and make them easier to eradicate.