How Some Bacteria Become Persistent To Treatment

HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM, ISRAEL. Researchers were able to identify the mechanism which allows some bacteria to survive antibacterial treatment. This discovery could open doors for many possibilities to control such bacteria in the near future of medicine.

Aside from this phenomenon, there are also other kinds of bacteria that may not be completely immune to antibiotics but are persistent bacteria. Persistent bacteria are not resistant to antibiotics but they just remain inactive or dormant in the presence of antibacterial treatment. They only get activated once the treatment is over and continue where they left off. This is one of the reasons why persistent bacteria are harder to deal with since they know how to play dead and get up once the treatment is over.

It has always been thought that these kinds of bacteria are connected with HipA, the known toxin that occurs naturally in bacteria. However, scientists did not know why this toxin triggers the bacteria to become dormant in the presence of antibacterial treatment. At the same time, the toxin’s cellular target was not determined yet.

Just recently, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Professor Gadi Glaser of the Faculty of Medicine with his team was able to demonstrate how this phenomenon actually occurs. When these bacteria are attacked by antibiotics, the HipA toxin disrupts the chemical “messaging” process which is needed for nutrients to build proteins. The bacteria interpret this as a “hunger signal” and send them into an inactive or dormant state. While in its inactive state, the bacteria is able to survive the antibacterial treatment until it is over so it can continue where it left off.

Together with Professor Gadi Glaser is Prof. Nathalie Balaban of the Racah Institute of Physics in the same university. For several years, Professor Balaban conducted the research on persistent bacteria in his laboratory which is focused mainly on the development of a biophysical understanding of the phenomenon. His research will be combined with another study which focuses on fighting persistent bacteria which is being done by Professor Glaser and his team. Their research will hopefully lead to more effective treatments that will eventually combat all bacterial infections.