A new regimen
Lewis and his colleagues are providing that focus. A subpopulation of B. burgdorferi cells, they discovered earlier, are “persister” cells—they are alive but lie dormant, in a sporelike state. Because antibiotics attack only actively functioning bacterial cells, persisters escape the onslaught. However, once the antibiotic has been flushed from the system, the persisters “wake up,” says Lewis, dividing and multiplying until an army of progeny infect the host.
That’s where “pulse dosing” comes in. Lewis’ team, in collaboration with researchers studying B. burgdorferi in mice at Tufts University’s Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences, has been analyzing the effect of giving the mice an antibiotic that kills all the actively functioning bacterial cells and then—using the timing that eradicated the pathogen in the test tube—giving additional doses to quash the persister cells as they begin to wake up but before they reproduce.
Plans are in the works for the first pulse-dosing human trials with medical schools.
The above extract is from News at Northeastern go to this link to read the full article:-
http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2016/03/researchers-investigate-four-promising-new-treatments-for-lyme-disease/
'University Distinguished Professor Kim Lewis, who leads the Lyme disease research team, is now expanding that therapeutic reach with the help of a $1.5 million grant from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation.
The team is pursuing four arms of treatment-related research at Northeastern’s Antimicrobial Discovery Center, which Lewis directs.
They are: a mouse study of a regimen that eradicated the bacterium in the test tube, setting the stage for human trials; antibiotic cocktails using existing drugs; strategies to discover new drugs that selectively target the Lyme bacterium; and ways to alter the composition of the microbiome—the community of microorganisms inhabiting the human body—to stop the autoimmune reactions that characterize the disease.
All four show exciting promise. The grant, Lewis says, “will give us the flexibility to test our approaches in parallel, which will save us an enormous amount of time.”
If Lyme is caught early, patients generally recover quickly when treated with antibiotics, primarily doxycyline. However, 10 to 20 percent of patients go on to develop a debilitating chronic condition called Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome, or PTLDS, with symptoms that include extreme fatigue, arthritis, muscle pain, and cognitive difficulties.
“I find it amazing that when you show up at the doctor’s office you are not told that there is a 10 to 20 percent chance that your life as you know it has ended,” says Lewis. “Nobody seems to be focusing on the next step: How to prevent the subsequent rise of the chronic condition.”
Earlier posts on Prof Kim Lewis can be found through this link:-
http://lookingatlyme.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/borrelia-burgdorferi-lyme-disease-forms.html
Lewis and his colleagues are providing that focus. A subpopulation of B. burgdorferi cells, they discovered earlier, are “persister” cells—they are alive but lie dormant, in a sporelike state. Because antibiotics attack only actively functioning bacterial cells, persisters escape the onslaught. However, once the antibiotic has been flushed from the system, the persisters “wake up,” says Lewis, dividing and multiplying until an army of progeny infect the host.
That’s where “pulse dosing” comes in. Lewis’ team, in collaboration with researchers studying B. burgdorferi in mice at Tufts University’s Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences, has been analyzing the effect of giving the mice an antibiotic that kills all the actively functioning bacterial cells and then—using the timing that eradicated the pathogen in the test tube—giving additional doses to quash the persister cells as they begin to wake up but before they reproduce.
Plans are in the works for the first pulse-dosing human trials with medical schools.
The above extract is from News at Northeastern go to this link to read the full article:-
http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2016/03/researchers-investigate-four-promising-new-treatments-for-lyme-disease/
'University Distinguished Professor Kim Lewis, who leads the Lyme disease research team, is now expanding that therapeutic reach with the help of a $1.5 million grant from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation.
The team is pursuing four arms of treatment-related research at Northeastern’s Antimicrobial Discovery Center, which Lewis directs.
They are: a mouse study of a regimen that eradicated the bacterium in the test tube, setting the stage for human trials; antibiotic cocktails using existing drugs; strategies to discover new drugs that selectively target the Lyme bacterium; and ways to alter the composition of the microbiome—the community of microorganisms inhabiting the human body—to stop the autoimmune reactions that characterize the disease.
All four show exciting promise. The grant, Lewis says, “will give us the flexibility to test our approaches in parallel, which will save us an enormous amount of time.”
If Lyme is caught early, patients generally recover quickly when treated with antibiotics, primarily doxycyline. However, 10 to 20 percent of patients go on to develop a debilitating chronic condition called Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome, or PTLDS, with symptoms that include extreme fatigue, arthritis, muscle pain, and cognitive difficulties.
“I find it amazing that when you show up at the doctor’s office you are not told that there is a 10 to 20 percent chance that your life as you know it has ended,” says Lewis. “Nobody seems to be focusing on the next step: How to prevent the subsequent rise of the chronic condition.”
Earlier posts on Prof Kim Lewis can be found through this link:-
http://lookingatlyme.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/borrelia-burgdorferi-lyme-disease-forms.html
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