New Type of Compounds Prove Their Bacteria-Killing Ability in Animal Model

NEW YORK -- A new kind of bacteria-killing compounds, being called nubiotics, may prove to be potent antimicrobial agents in animal experiments, researchers are reporting in the August 2004 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Nubiotics are based on nucleic acid and have shown strong activity against a variety of bacteria in the lab dish. They are believed to be completely different from conventional antibiotics, the researchers say, and could offer a new approach to treating burn and wound infections.

Dr. Roderic M. Dale of Oregon-based Oligos Etc., Inc. is the developer of these new compounds. Dale's team evaluated the efficacy of 12 different nubiotics in mice with burn wounds infected with a highly pathogenic strain of the bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Four of the nubiotics proved "extremely efficacious," with 60 percent to 100 percent of treated mice surviving, compared with none of the untreated mice. These nubiotics were effective when given either by injection or when applied directly to the wound, the investigators found, resulting in nearly complete eradication of Pseudomonas from the spleen, liver, and blood.  In fact, they proved as effective as intravenous administration of ciprofloxacin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Source: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy