Scientists announced a promising discovery in the field of medicine: a new type of antibiotic effective against extremely dangerous resistant bacteria. Novelty has been achieved using artificial intelligence (AI) and may offer hope in the fight against bacterial infections.

The researchers tested the antibiotic on mice experimentally infected with the superbug. The results showed that the drug is able to control the growth of bacteria, which indicates the possibility of using this method to develop personalized antibiotics to combat other drug-resistant microorganisms.

In addition, the new antibiotic was tested on 41 different strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The drug has been shown to be effective against all strains, but it still needs to be refined and clinically tested in humans before it can be used in patients.

An interesting aspect is that the AI-identified compound acts specifically on the target microorganism, without fighting a number of other types of beneficial bacteria that inhabit the intestines or skin. This characteristic makes the antibiotic a specific and rare target agent.

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If more antibiotics work accurately, the development of bacterial resistance could be prevented in the first place, the researchers said. This AI-assisted drug discovery approach is considered a new field and has been tested by scientists since 2018. It significantly reduces the time needed to analyze thousands of promising compounds.

Cesar de la Fuente, an assistant professor at the Pearlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who also uses AI to find new treatments, said the promise of this approach is incredible and that drug discovery is the next frontier in using this technology.

The study focused on the Actinetobacter baumannii bacteria found in hospitals and other healthcare facilities, such as doorknob and counter surfaces. This bacterium has the ability to acquire DNA from other organisms, including genes that help it resist agents used by doctors to fight it.

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John Stokes, co-researcher and assistant professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster University in Ontario, explained that this bacterial species is considered an “occupational pathogen” due to its resistance. It causes infections of the skin, blood, and respiratory tract and is difficult to treat. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in 2019 that Acinetobacter baumannii infections urgently require new types of antibiotics to treat them.

A recent study found that 25% of hospitalized patients with Acinetobacter baumannii infections, even those resistant to the potent carbapenem antibiotics, died within a month of diagnosis.

The discovery of this new antibiotic is a promising step forward in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria. With the use of artificial intelligence, the possibility of developing antibiotics adapted to different microorganisms is becoming increasingly viable, offering hope for the treatment of infections for which there are currently few effective therapeutic options.

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Via: Estadão Source: Nature Chemical Biology

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