Scientists stumble across new method of making antibiotics

Cancer researchers may have stumbled across a solution to reverse antibiotic drug resistance and stop infections like MRSA. | Via ScienceDaily

Experts warn we are decades behind in the race against superbugs having already exploited naturally occurring antibiotics, with the creation of new ones requiring time, money and ingenuity.

But a team of scientists at the University of Salford say they may have found a very simple way forward — even though they weren’t even looking for antibiotics.

And they have created and validated several new antibiotics already — many of which are as potent, or more so, than standard antibiotics, such as amoxicillin.

“A little like Alexander Fleming, we weren’t even looking for antibiotics rather researching into new compounds that might be effective against cancer stem cells,” explains Michael P. Lisanti, Chair of Translational Medicine at the University’s Biomedical Research Centre.

“I think we’ve accidentally invented a systemic way of creating new antibiotics which is simple, cheap and could be very significant in the fight against superbugs,” added Dr Federica Sotgia, a co-author on the study.

Full story at ScienceDaily

Full reference:  Bela Ozsvari et al.  Mitoriboscins: Mitochondrial-based therapeutics targeting cancer stem cells (CSCs), bacteria and pathogenic yeast | Oncotarget, Advance Publications | published online July 7th 2017