La Jolla, CA. April 28, 1998 -- Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
(TSRI) and their colleagues at the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research
Institute have developed a series of new antibacterial compounds designed
specifically to target the biological mechanisms by which bacteria establish an
infection in the host. With resistance to antibiotics an increasing public
health threat, particularly in the hospital setting, the compounds offer the
potential to provide protection against Staphylococcus aureus, or staph
infection, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and penicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus pneumoniae.
According to the authors of the study, James A. Hoch, Ph.D., Professor,
and John M. Whiteley, Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and
Experimental Medicine, "With infectious disease continuing to be our most
serious health problem, this work represents important progress in a new target
area for anti-infective therapy."
The study, "Antibacterial agents that inhibit two-component signal
transduction systems," by J.F. Barrett, R.M. Goldschmidt, L.E. Lawrence, B.
Foleno, R. Chen, J.P. Demers, S. Johnson, R. Kanojia, J. Fernandez, J.
Bernstein, L. Licata, A. Donetz, S. Huang, D.J. Hlasta, M.J. Macielag, K.
Ohemeng, R. Frechette, M.B. Frosco, D.H. Klaubert, J.M. Whiteley, L. Wang, and
J.A. Hoch, appears in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, USA.
Due to the overuse of antibiotics and the failure of some patients to
take a proper dosage of medication, resistance to antibiotics is becoming an
increasing risk to public health. In May, 1997, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention confirmed that Staphylococcus aureus had for the first time
defended itself against vancomycin, the last drug reported to kill all of its
strains. That strain, found in Japan, demonstrated an "intermediate" level of
resistance to the antibiotic, a le
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Contact: Robin B. Goldsmith
rgoldsmi@scripps.edu
(619) 784-8134
Scripps Research Institute
28-Apr-1998
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