Antibiotics have saved millions of lives by preventing deaths caused by infectious diseases and are considered one of the most important medical advances of the 20th century. However, the use of these drugs and the increasing abuse of these medicines have caused multi-resistance in many bacteria to the action of antibiotics.
Now, a study led by the University of Barcelona and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), based at the Barcelona Science Park, has analysed the antimicrobial activity of human proteins known as histones against the action of bacteria, both in solution and in biofilm.
The results, published in the American Society for Microbiology's journal mSystems , open the door to designing new and more effective antimicrobial therapies, especially for infections caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the main cause of chronic wounds and lung failure in patients with cystic fibrosis and other respiratory diseases.
The study is led by Eduard Torrents, professor at the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics of the UB's Faculty of Biology and head of IBEC's Bacterial Infections: Antimicrobial Therapies group. This study was carried out in collaboration with the experts Albert Jordan (CSIC) and Alicia Roque and Inmaculada Ponte (UAB).
Histones to fight bacterial infections
Histones are essential proteins in the organization and regulation of DNA in all eukaryotic cells, i.e. with DNA located within a nucleus. Apart from this, histones of the H1 subtype can also be released outside the cell and exert antimicrobial activity to fight fungi, parasites and viruses. The paper describes how human histones exhibit antimicrobial activity against different bacteria, for example against biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the six most resistant bacteria in the world.
Researchers have analysed the antimicrobial activity of three subtypes of human histone H1 against different bacteria. In the case of P. aeruginosa, they found a reduction of up to 70% in the number of bacteria after antimicrobial treatment. When histones are combined with the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, the effect is even greater, opening the door to developing more effective treatment cocktails.
"These findings suggest that the use of histones or part of these proteins, either alone or in combination with antibiotics or other molecules with antimicrobial activity, is a promising alternative to combat acute and chronic infections caused by pathogens such as P. aeruginosa and other multidrug-resistant bacteria", says Professor Eduard Torrents.
