Antibiotic resistance may be overcome with cancer drugs

Drugs used to treat cancer may also overcome antibiotic resistance, new research has claimed.

Researchers at McCaster University found that certain proteins, known as Kinases, that develop antibiotic resistance are structurally similar to those proteins instrumental in cancer.

According to Gerry Wright, scientific director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at the University, drugs designed to treat cancer should be looked at anew.

"The pharmaceutical sector has made a big investment in targeting [kinase] proteins," he explained. "[Cancer drugs] can in fact be looked at with fresh eyes and maybe repurposed to address ... antibiotic resistance."

Researchers discovered the similarity in protein structure when screening 14 antibiotic resistant molecules against 80 chemically diverse protein kinase inhibitors.

It is hoped that the findings will quell industry fears that exploitable antibiotics to treat infectious diseases have already been utilised.

A study previously asserted that patients who have taken antibiotics within the previous two months have double the chance of carrying antibiotic resistant bacteria, fuelling fears that certain conditions may once again become untreatable unless researchers discover a way to make bacteria vulnerable to treatment.

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