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For young people with cystic fibrosis, lung infection from Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, is common and is treated with antibiotics in the hope that this will prevent a decline in lung function. However, there has recently been a debate on the role S. aureus plays in CF lung disease. Researchers at the University of Warwick used a new model of CF lungs that could be used to make better decisions about the future use of antibiotics.
S. aureus it is commonly found on the skin of healthy people, can cause lung infections and abscesses, and is often present in the mucus and sputum of children with cystic fibrosis. when S. aureus – including the antibiotic resistant form, MRSA – is found in people with CF, is treated with antibiotics, but exactly as S. aureus affects the lungs in people with this condition is unknown.
Previous research patterns have often scrutinized S. aureus in the lungs of mice, however, when S. aureus gets infected in the lungs of mice, the form of abscesses and abscesses are extremely rare in people with CF. In the newspaper ‘An ex vivo The cystic fibrosis model summarizes the key clinical aspects of chronic Staphylococcus aureus infection ‘, published in the journal Microbiology, researchers at the University of Warwick School of Life Sciences, found that using leftover pig lungs from a butcher and synthetic mucus that mimics CF lung secretions, S. aureus it tends to aggregate in the mucus, not to invade lung tissue as in mice.
To see if they could find a better way to mimic human CF lungs and decrease the use of animal testing, the researchers used pig lungs from a butcher and added synthetic CF mucus. They then introduced the S. aureus and found that it tended to clump together in mucus, rather than invade lung tissue as would happen with an abscess.
Due to the lack of knowledge of how S. aureus affects the lungs of children with cystic fibrosis, they tend to be treated with antibiotics, although this often does not relieve symptoms of lung disease, and it has been debated whether antibiotics are the best treatment. This research conducted by the University of Warwick paves the way for new treatments for S. aureus in CF to explore.
Dr Esther Sweeney, of the University of Warwick School of Life Sciences, comments:
“The model we used with pig lung showed that S. aureus grows preferentially within mucus. We believe this potentially represents the clinical situation for people with CF better than historical research models and our model could be used to further investigate the best ways of treating MRSA infection associated with cystic fibrosis. In the future, this could help reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics. “
Dr Freya Harrison, of the University of Warwick School of Life Sciences adds:
“Knowing exactly how the lungs are affected by different bacteria is critical to treat infections efficiently. We need to know which bacteria do the most damage and how best to target them to eliminate them. We decided to create a new model using a pig lung, rather than a mouse, because pig lungs are more like human lungs and we can combine them with artificial CF mucus. We think this makes bacteria behave more like they would in the lungs of a person with CF. “
Source of the story:
Materials provided by Warwick University. Note: The content can be changed by style and length.
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