New Potential Approach In Fighting Sepsis And Severe Bacterial Infections Discovered

The scientists from Harvard-affiliated Boston Children's Hospital found a new potential way of controlling the sepsis and the runaway bacterial infections that trigger them.

According to Harvard Gazette, sepsis kills a quarter million of people every year in the United States. It is the main cause of the killing of newborns and children worldwide. It has no probable treatment just like other antibiotic-resistant infections.

Sepsis occurs when the body's response to infection injures its own tissues and organs. The symptoms of sepsis include fever, confusion, increased heart rate, increased breathing rate, cough with pneumonia, and painful urination with the kidney infection.

In the study, the protein complexes also known as inflammasomes were activated in any sign of bacterial attacks. This causes the pyroptosis process, wherein the infected cells explode open. This releases bacteria as well as the chemical signals that sound an immune alarm.

Once the inflammasomes are activated the enzymes, which are called caspases are also triggered. These cut a molecule called gasdermin D in two. It then unleashes gasdermin D's active fragment called gasdermin-D-NT.

The scientists then show that gasdermin-D-NT packs a one-two punch. This pierces the membranes of the bacteria that are infecting the cells and kills them. It also strikes the holes in the membrane of the host cell. This causes pyroptosis that kills the cell and releases bacteria and immune alarm signal. They also discovered that nearby uninfected cells were left unscathed.

The scientists found that gasdermin-D-NT kills the bacteria outside cells. These include the S.aureus, Listeria and E.coli. Judy Liberman, the senior investigator on the study said that the understanding on how the gasdermin-D-NT works could be harnessed to help treat highly dangerous bacterial infections.

She further explained that since the fragment kills bacteria yet not uninfected host cells, one can imagine injecting the fragment directly, especially to treat a localized infection involving antibiotic-resistant bacteria.