( s are a worrisome public health problem...)Substance protects resilient staph bacteria

s are a worrisome public health problem made worse by the increase in antibiotic resistance," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "This research has initiated a promising new approach that could result in the development of better ways to prevent the spread of many different staph infections that can be acquired in health care settings."

The PGA discoveries came during Dr. Otto's research of how Staphylococcal bacteria biofilms contribute to evading human immune defenses. Biofilms are protective cell-surface structures. Biofilm formation does not depend on PGA, but other research in Dr. Otto's laboratory has indicated that PGA production is greater when a biofilm is present. Further, Dr. Otto says all 74 strains of S. epidermidis that his group tested also produced PGA, as did six other genetically related Staphylococcus pathogens. "This could be very important to vaccine development because the PGA is present in every strain of the organism," Dr. Otto says. "If a vaccine can be developed to negate the effect of the PGA, it could be highly successful against all pathogens in which PGA is a basis for disease development, such as Staph and anthrax."

The group used genetic and biochemical analyses to show that PGA is produced in S. epidermidis. They then used three S. epidermidis strains--one natural, one altered to eliminate PGA production and one altered to produce excess PGA--to show that PGA protects S. epidermidis from innate immune defense, human antibiotic compounds and salt concentrations similar to levels found on human skin. Dr. Otto's group also used mice fitted with catheters to demonstrate that the S. epidermidis strain deficient of PGA was not able to cause infection while the other strains containing PGA did.

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Source:NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases


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