{"id":35150,"date":"2020-11-24T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.inrs.ca\/?p=35150"},"modified":"2020-11-24T10:58:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T15:58:01","slug":"discovery-of-a-potential-treatment-against-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-causing-gonorrhea-and-meningitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.inrs.ca\/en\/news\/discovery-of-a-potential-treatment-against-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-causing-gonorrhea-and-meningitis\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovery of a potential treatment against antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing gonorrhea and meningitis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A research team demonstrates the effectiveness of an inexpensive molecule to fight antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria responsible for gonorrhea and meningococcal meningitis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

These two infections affect millions of people worldwide. The results<\/a> of this research, led by Professor Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Veyrier<\/a> and Professor Annie Castonguay<\/a>, have just been published online in the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy<\/em> journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Three members of the INRS research team, Professor Annie Castonguay, Professor Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Veyrier and PhD student Eve Bernet, first author of the study<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Antibiotic Resistance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, rising rates of antibiotic resistance have been of concern to the World Health Organization (WHO), who has celebrated the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week<\/a>, from November 18th<\/sup> to 24th<\/sup> 2020. This concern is particularly true in the case of Neisseria gonorrhoeae<\/em>, for which some strains have developed resistance to all effective antibiotics. This bacterium is responsible for gonorrhea, an infection whose incidence has almost tripled in the last decade in Canada<\/a>. Resistant strains of Neisseria meningitidis<\/em>, which cause bacterial meningitis, have also emerged. In the current pandemic context, scientists are particularly concerned about a rise in antibiotic resistance due to their increased use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other bacteria, Neisseria<\/em> that cause meningitis and gonorrhea evolve very rapidly because of certain intrinsic properties. For example, they have a great capacity to acquire genes from other bacteria. They also have a suboptimal DNA repair system that leads to mutations; antibiotic resistance can therefore easily emerge. The fact that these diseases affect many people around the world also gives them many opportunities to evolve, explaining why it is urgent to develop new ways to fight these bacteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


A Specific Molecule<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The research team has demonstrated the efficacy of Sodium tetraphenylborate (NaBh4), a simple molecule in bacterial cultures and in a model of infection. Well known by chemists, this molecule is accessible, inexpensive, and could greatly help in the fight against these two types of pathogenic Neisseria<\/em>. The advantage of this molecule is its specificity: \u201cWe noticed that the molecule only affects pathogenic Neisseria<\/em>. It does not affect other types of Neisseria<\/em> that are found in the upper respiratory system and can be beneficial,\u201d underlines Professor Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Veyrier, also the scientific manager of the Platform for Characterization of Biological and Synthetic Nanovehicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During its experiments, the research team tested whether there was any possible resistance to the molecule: \u201cWe were able to isolate strains of bacteria that were less sensitive to the treatment, but this resistance was a double-edged sword because these mutants completely lost their virulence\u201d says the microbiologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the moment, the team does not know exactly why the molecule reacts specifically with the two types of Neisseria<\/em>, but they suspect a connection with the membrane of these pathogens. This specificity opens the door to more fundamental research to determine what makes one bacterium virulent compared to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next step will be to modify the structure of the molecule to make it more efficient, while maintaining its specificity. In parallel, the team wishes to identify an industrial partner to evaluate the possibility of developing a potential treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of the publication were presented by Eve Bernet at the Journ\u00e9es qu\u00e9b\u00e9coises en sant\u00e9 respiratoire<\/a> (JQSR). The quality of her presentation, available on YouTube<\/a> (in French), earned her first prize in the poster category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


About the study<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The article, entitled \u201cSodium tetraphenylborate displays selective bactericidal activity against <\/em>N. meningitidis and <\/em>N. gonorrhoeae and is effective at reducing bacterial infection load<\/em><\/a>\u201d, by Eve Bernet, Marthe Lebughe, Antony Vincent, Mohammad Mehdi Haghdoost, Golara Golbaghi, Steven Laplante, Annie Castonguay and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Veyrier, was published online in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy<\/em>. The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research<\/a> (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada<\/a> (NSERC), the Fonds de recherche du Qu\u00e9bec\u2013Sant\u00e9<\/a> (FRQS), the R\u00e9seau qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois de recherche sur les m\u00e9dicaments<\/a> (RQRM) and the Canadian Francophonie Scholarship Program<\/a> (CFSP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A research team demonstrates the effectiveness of an inexpensive molecule to fight antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria responsible for gonorrhea and meningococcal meningitis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":35163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"sectors":[679],"class_list":["post-35150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innover-a-linrs-en","sectors-sante-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDiscovery of a potential treatment against antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing gonorrhea and meningitis | INRS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A research team demonstrates the effectiveness of an inexpensive molecule to fight antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria responsible for gonorrhea and meningococcal meningitis.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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