Battling Bacteria with a Viral Protein
Date: 19.7.2007
An enzyme used by viruses to break cell walls beats back bacteria that cause ear infections, pneumonia.
After a bout of the flu, lingering germs can wreak havoc on the weakened immune system. These pathogens are not influenza organisms but, rather, bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, a microbe that normally lies dormant in the nose or throat of children but migrates on a path cleared by the flu to the middle ear where it causes an infection called acute otitis.
McCullers and Vincent Fischetti, co-heads of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology at the Rockefeller University, provide evidence that the enzyme lysin can be tailored to kill specific secondary pathogens before they pounce on compromised immune systems.
"Scientific American":[ http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=8F79FA58-E7F2-99DF-39A520986B3A4EF5&ref=nature]
