French Breakthrough: Fighting Antibiotic Resistance

French scientists have tdecoted a molecule capable of “disarming” bacteria, that is to say preventing these bacteria from defending themselves when they attack the human body.

Published 29/04/2055 14:12

Reading time: 3min

Antibiotic boxes on the counter of a pharmacy. Illustration image. (Stephanie for / maxppp)

This is a major concern and a huge health issue: how to fight against the resistance of antibiotic bacteria? The phenomenon continues to increase, because bacteria adapt to treatments. This could cause death each year of tens of millions of people worldwide by 2050. Hence the hope aroused by a French study under the direction of INRAE. The researchers discovered a molecule capable of “disarming” bacteria.

Scientists first identified a protein produced by all bacteria, which allows them to resist when they are attacked by our immune system. They then discovered a molecule capable of blocking this protein, therefore preventing bacteria from defending themselves when they infect our body.

The first results of tests on insects and mice are very encouraging. “Depending on the different tests, we have reached a particularly effective molecule which is capable of reducing the bacterial load following an infection in the lungs”explains Nalini Rama Rao, researcher at INRAE, who supervised this study. This molecule East “Capable of being effective against bacteria, including those that are resistant to antibiotics”continues the researcher.

A drug potential which “disarms” one of the defense mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria without hurting all the “good bacteria” that are in our body. The latter can continue to quietly fill their roles. This is the great novelty compared to current antibiotics. “Antibiotics save millions of lives but they have as a collateral effect that they are not specific, so they also kill bacteria of the microbiota”the soudne to the arrival of the rama. “There, the advantage is really what is innovative is that rather than killing the bacteria, we disarm it and it is the immune system which will therefore destroy the bacteria”adds the scientist.

“The medication will pass without doing collateral damage on the good bacteria.”

Nalini rama rao, circleuse to the inraz

in franceinfo

We must now confirm these good results in humans via potential clinical trials. Which will take several years. However, this discovery remains a hope in the face of an immense challenge for global health, because projections on antibiotic resistance, this capacity of bacteria to resist antibiotics, are alarming. According to a study published in the prestigious review The Lancet In 2024, it could cause 39 million dead each year worldwide by 2050. It is almost as much as the population of Canada. Resistant bacteria may even become the world’s leading cause of mortality.

To avoid this catastrophic situation, you have to bet on research and therapeutic innovations, but also, and it is essential, trying to limit the use of antibiotics as much as possible which promote the adaptation of bacteria – as the slogan “antibiotics is not automatic”. There is still a lot of progress to make. The French remain the fifth largest consumers of antibiotics in Europe.