Decoy molecule that fights food poisoning might help defeat ot...( April 16 2001 -- Scientists at the L...)

Decoy molecule that fights food poisoning might help defeat other toxins

April 16, 2001 -- Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico report that they have designed decoy molecules that, in laboratory studies, can stop the spread of Staphylococcal superantigen, a toxin responsible for about 25 percent of the food poisoning cases in the United States. The same method might be used to fight similar toxins, including those associated with anthrax, HIV and toxic shock syndrome, according to the researchers.

The research is reported in the current (April 10) issue of Biochemistry, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

The decoy molecules are better suited to protect the body's immune system from attack than currently used antibiotic approaches, according to Goutam Gupta, Ph.D., who led the research project. Ideally, the decoys could offer a faster-acting, more effective alternative to stop the toxins, he said. If all goes well with further research, he believes it could be given to patients suffering from food poisoning or toxic shock syndrome, or given prior to possible exposure to biowarfare agents like anthrax.

Staphylococcus, or staph toxin, is a protein with two binding sites on its surface that it uses to spread from cell to cell in the body. Staph toxins are bacterial "superantigens" that overstimulate the body's immune system, turning it against itself.

The decoy molecules target the binding sites and prevent the toxin from attaching to cells, Gupta said. The toxins eventually die if they are unable to infect any other cells. The decoys are not expected to upset the functions of normal cells in the body, Gupta noted.

In the laboratory study, the decoy molecules successfully disarmed a model staph toxin, Gupta said. Toxins implicated in several other diseases and infections, including anthrax, HIV and toxic shock syndrome, act in much the same way as the staph toxin, according to Gupta.

He feels that the similarities betw
'"/>

Contact: Beverly Hassell
b_hassell@acs.org
202-872-4065
American Chemical Society
15-Apr-2001

Page: 1 2
Related biology news :

1. Decoy cells attract, disarm viruses before infection occurs
2. Small, Smac-like molecule encourages death of cancer cells
3. Tiny molecules have big potential as cancer drugs, Stanford researcher believes
4. Synthesized molecules studied as weapon to stop cell division in cancer cells
5. Scientists reinvent DNA as template to produce organic molecules
6. Sweet success in targeting sugar molecules to cells in living animals
7. Emory researchers map structure of anti-cancer molecule
8. UC Riverside researcher takes snapshots of the movement of molecules in a billionth of a second
9. Scientists pinpoint molecules that generate synapses
10. Basic RNA enzyme research promises single-molecule biosensors
11. Joslin researchers identify key molecule in Type 1 diabetes progression

Post Your Comments: