Synthetic peptide effective against MRSA in animal study

With every antibiotic fated to become obsolescent, researchers are always working to find a new generation of antibacterials. And with the spread of drug-resistant infections on the rise, the work has never been more urgent.

Now a group of Japanese scientists say that they believe they are on to something that could prove to be a very effective guard against MRSA and other lethal bacterial infections. They say a synthetic antimicrobial peptide called L5--developed out of antibacterial proteins from Sarcophaga peregrina--effectively treated mice infected with MRSA. And when administered in advance of being infected, death rates were greatly reduced.

"...[W]e found that L5 induced the activation of the host immune responses and protected the mice from death due to infection," say the researchers. "We propose a novel therapeutic intervention that activates the host immunity in infectious diseases and has an advantage in treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection."

- check out the press release

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