Breakthrough in treating superbugs like MRSA by University of Galway scientists

PhD student Aaron Nolan and Dr Merve S Zeden from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at University of Galway both worked on the research to find a potential new method to treat superbug infections.

Irish scientists have discovered a potential new way to treat superbug infections including MRSA, which could help combat growing problems with resistance to antibiotics worldwide.

Scientists at the University of Galway have shown MRSA could be much more efficiently killed by penicillin-type antibiotics when combined with purines, which are the building blocks for DNA.

This discovery has the potential to improve treatment options for superbug MRSA infections with penicillin-type antibiotics which have become ineffective on their own. That is according to research led by the team at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, University of Galway. 

Professor James P O’Gara said: “This discovery is important because it has revealed a potentially new way to treat MRSA infections with penicillin-type drugs, which remain the safest and most effective antibiotics.” 

The World Health Organization has expressed concern at the growing resistance to vital medications, linked to the overuse or misuse of antibiotics.

Dr Merve S Zeden said: “Purine nucleosides, Adenosine, Xanthosine, Guanosine are sugar versions of the building blocks of DNA, and our work showed they interfere with signalling systems in the bacterial cell which are required for antibiotic resistance.” 

Drugs derived from purines are already used to treat some viral infections and cancers, the university said.

This research was funded by the Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Research Council. It was conducted in collaboration with Imperial College London and the University of Sheffield.

This study was published in the flagship journal of the American Society for Microbiology, mBio.