Norcyothricin is a natural product made from soil fungi that contains several forms of a complex molecule called streptothricin.
When discovered in the 1940s, the antibiotic norcyothricin raised great hopes as a potent agent against “gram-negative bacteria”, which are difficult to kill with other antibiotics. Due to the thick outer protective layer.
But scientists discovered at that time that “norcyothricin” had a toxic effect on the kidneys, so its development stopped, until finally Dr. James Kirby and his colleagues at Harvard University decided to re-studying the old antibiotic, to obtain promising results, which was published Tuesday by the journal “Plus Biology”.
Very effective
In his interview with ‘Sky News Arabia’, James Kirby, leader of the research team, explains the team’s most important findings regarding the ancient antibiotic, saying:
We demonstrate that the antibiotics streptothricin (norcyothricin) are highly active against contemporary multidrug-resistant pathogens; It is able to kill bacteria very quickly and completely, a property shared with few other antibiotics. Streptothricin is characterized by its ability to induce protein synthesis by inducing coding errors; Which leads to the death of the bacterial pathogen, making it a powerful antibiotic. We studied two types of streptothricin: streptothricin D and streptothricin F, both of which are very effective against bacteria. We found that “streptothricin D” was highly toxic to the kidneys, while “streptothricin F” was less toxic, as its toxicity appears in the case of very high doses. Although streptothricin is still not suitable for human use, the importance of the study lies in understanding the chemical composition of the antibiotic, which paves the way for its development in the near future.
obstacles on the way
The research team is currently facing many hurdles on the way to developing streptothricin, as James Kirby points to the obstacle of funding as a general problem in the field of antibiotic development, as pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to invest. in antibiotics that are only taken for a few days, a week or two, compared to drugs for chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, that accompany patients throughout their lives.
Kirby calls on doctors not to use the latest antibiotics so as not to develop resistance to bacteria.
And of the next step in the development of a promising antibiotic, the Harvard Medical School professor says: “The next step is to make many different chemical variants of streptothricin F, test them and identify the variants which achieve the highest efficacy and lowest toxicity.”
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