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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday September 14 2016, @01:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the like-throwing-stars-but-smaller dept.

Tiny, star-shaped molecules are effective at killing bacteria that can no longer be killed by current antibiotics, new research shows.

The study, published today in Nature Microbiology, holds promise for a new treatment method against antibiotic-resistant bacteria (commonly known as superbugs).

The star-shaped structures, are short chains of proteins called 'peptide polymers', and were created by a team from the Melbourne School of Engineering.
...
tests undertaken on red blood cells showed that the star-shaped polymer dosage rate would need to be increased by a factor of greater than 100 to become toxic. The star-shaped peptide polymer is also effective in killing superbugs when tested in animal models.

Furthermore, superbugs showed no signs of resistance against these peptide polymers. The team discovered that their star-shaped peptide polymers can kill bacteria with multiple pathways, unlike most antibiotics which kill with a single pathway.

Let's hope any such molecules are thoroughly vetted with long-term studies before being introduced to medical therapies.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Wednesday September 14 2016, @01:44AM

    by edIII (791) on Wednesday September 14 2016, @01:44AM (#401570)

    Let's hope people who need them can get them when they need them, too!

    Sure, and I want a pony. When introduced to the U.S medical industry it will be sold for profit. That means that the people that need them, only get them if they have the money. Profit doesn't care about empathy or the needs of anyone. It only cares about growing in size.

    What we need is a drug that can target psychotically avaricious people (parasites) and kill them with the same multiple pathways and abilities to defeat resistance.

    Although I'm not really sure what the heck this stuff even is. The article doesn't say how they work at all, implies multiple pathways, and a single physical pathway in which the cell walls are ruptured (perhaps by the points on the star?).

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