Researchers find treatments helped penicillin-type antibiotics to kill the common hospital infection
Four common chemotherapy drugs could help traditional antibiotics treat one of the most common superbugs found in hospitals, a new study has found.
MRSA infection is caused by a type of Staphylococcal bacteria that has become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary infections.
Researchers in University of Galway investigated whether a range of anti-cancer drugs could help penicillin-type antibiotics to become effective again in the treatment of MRSA.
They found that four therapies (5-fluorouracil; 5-fluororidine; gemcitabine; and mitomycin C) helped penicillin-type antibiotics to kill the infection. These drugs interfere with the bacteria’s ability to make DNA, making the bacteria more vulnerable to the antibiotics.
A fifth anti-cancer drug which was tested (6-thioguanine) had the opposite effect and reduced the effectiveness of the antibiotics. Although this drug also affects DNA production in MRSA, it works in a different way, which may explain the different effects.
First author of the study, Dr Aaron Nolan, said the findings highlight ‘the importance of carefully prescribing the most appropriate antibiotic in patients undergoing chemotherapy.’
Assistant professor in microbiology Dr Merve Zeden said: “Our findings suggest that certain drugs originally developed for cancer treatment may have the potential to be repurposed alongside antibiotics. This could offer a new strategy to re-sensitise bacteria that have become resistant to existing treatments.”
The findings build on the team’s ongoing research, which has identified the process of DNA production as a vulnerability in MRSA. By interfering with this process, some of the anti-cancer drugs tested in the study appear to make the bacteria more vulnerable to antibiotics.
The discovery opens new avenues for research into combination therapies that pair antibiotics with non-antibiotic drugs. Such approaches could help extend the lifespan of existing antibiotics and provide new options for infections caused by bacteria resistant to traditional antibiotic treatments.
Professor of microbiology at University of Galway, James O’Gara, said: “We are excited by this discovery, which advances our long-term goal of finding new ways to boost the effectiveness of existing antibiotics against superbugs like MRSA.
“Because this approach relies on existing medications rather than developing completely new drugs, it could provide a faster route towards developing new strategies to improve patient care.”
Read the study: Purine and pyrimidine analogs differentially regulate cell wall precursor biosynthesis to control β-lactam susceptibility in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.