As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Researchers put knowledge – and creativity – to work to find a new way to stop MRSA infections that can be lethal and can create enormous expense. The usual approach is based only using antibiotics to kill cells. But they went a different way, using knowledge of how MRSA works at the molecular level.
In short, as described in ScienceDaily, MRSA is so hard to stop because it has cells known as "persisters." Their function is to live forever, and they hide from antibiotics by sort of going to sleep. While "asleep," the cells do not need or take in an antibiotic circulating through the body, and so they escape death by drug. Then, later, the persisters "wake up" and the infection returns and grows.
The answer? "Wake up" the persister cells with a new drug they created – called ADEP. Then use an antibiotic to actually kill the persister cells, along with all the other cells. A 1-2 punch, rather like some of the new cancer drugs that attack cancer cells using the 1-2 punch of "linkers" that target the cancer cell, and then the drug releases a different agent that actually kills the cancer cells.
How cool is this in the world of science? Very. Proof? The authors and paper made it into Nature, with an additional comment article too. But it’s just one of many stories in this week’s edition.
Knowledge is indeed power. And in science, it’s an especially potent force for change. Lawyers and law need to expect lots of change ahead because scientific knowledge is growing exponentially.
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