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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4155522.stm :

Scientists are catching crocodiles and sampling their blood in the hope of finding powerful new drugs to fight human infections.
Australian Adam Britton and US expert Mark Merchant spent the last fortnight combing the Northern Territory for salt and freshwater crocs.

It has been known for some time that these animals heal serious injuries rapidly and almost without infection.

More recently, tests showed alligator blood has strong antibacterial powers.

Natural fighters

Dr Merchant said there was a wealth of anecdotal evidence suggesting that alligators and crocodiles are resistant to bacterial infection.

"These animals are very territorial and when they fight it gets very ugly.

"They tear limbs off one another and leave huge gaping wounds.

We caught nine large, wild saltwater crocodiles and bled some 15 or 20 captive fresh and saltwater crocodiles

Dr Merchant

"And, despite the fact that they live in an environment that harbour potentially a lot of pathogenic microbes, these horrible wounds seem to heal up very rapidly and almost always without infection."

About three and a half years ago he tested alligator blood and pinpointed why these animals were so resistant to infection.

Alligators and crocodiles, like humans, have a natural defence system against invading bacteria, viruses and fungi, which involves a group of proteins called the complement system.

When Dr Merchant exposed the alligator blood to pathogens such as HIV, West Nile Virus and E Coli, it started to kill them.

"It turns out that this complement system is much more effective than ours.

Healing power

"But there is really no clinical utility because I can't isolate them from alligators and inject them into your veins because your body would recognise that it was not human."

Instead, he hopes to be able find something in the crocodile and alligator blood that can be mimicked in a drug, and has begun to look at white blood cells - the cells that flock to fight invading pathogens.

White blood cells make and release tiny proteins to fight the infection and Dr Merchant believes that, if he can isolate these from the animals, it might point a way to making new antibiotics and antiviral drugs for humans.

"We caught nine large, wild saltwater crocodiles and bled some 15 or 20 captive fresh and saltwater crocodiles.

"I have isolated the white blood cells and cracked them open to look at the proteins."

He is now waiting for the samples to be shipped back to his lab at McNeese State University in Louisiana in the US so he can carry out further tests over the coming months.

The next step would then be to make similar proteins and see if they could kill bacteria, fungi and viruses that are a problem in humans, such as HIV and Staphylococcus aureus - the bacterium that has become resistant to antibiotics and has been causing so-called MRSA superbug outbreaks in hospitals around the world.









წყარი: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Alligator-B...HIV-82752.shtml



We rather associate alligators and crocodiles with death, but these creatures could one day save your life, as a research team signaled at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Blood proteins of the alligators could deliver new powerful antibiotics against infections accompanying diabetic ulcers, severe burns, "superbugs" resistant to current antibiotics and Candida albicans, a fungal infection representing a severe issue in cases of AIDS and transplants, when patients have weakened immunity.

The team led by Dr. Mark Merchant, a biochemist at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La, previously revealed that alligators possess an unusually strong immune system, very different from ours. Unlike humans, these reptiles can kill germs like fungi, viruses, and bacteria while lacking previous exposure to them. This could be an evolutionary adaptation for quick wound healing, as alligators often injure each other during territorial fights and they subsequently remain in germ-filled water that could otherwise finish them off rapidly.

The team isolated (immune) white blood cells (leucocytes) from blood of American alligators and extracted their active proteins. In lab tests, small amounts of these proteins destroyed most of bacteria, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), increasingly resistant to most current antibiotics and responsible for thousands of hospital deaths annually.

These molecules also destroyed 6 out of 8 different strains of Candida albicans. A previous study made by the same team showed that alligator immune proteins could fight HIV.

The next step is to detect the molecular structures of these immune proteins and see which of them are the most potent. The team believes there may be at least four useful proteins. Once their structure is known, these proteins could make antibacterial or antifungal drugs, including pills and creams.

"These drugs show particular promise as topical ointments. Gator-blood creams could conceivably be rubbed onto the foot ulcers of patients with diabetes to help prevent the type of uncontrolled infections that lead to amputations. The creams could also be applied to the skin of burn patients to keep infections at bay until damaged skin can heal," said Merchant.

The "alligacin" could be developed in 7 to 10 years.

"Until then, don’t try to create your own home-remedies using alligator blood, as raw, unprocessed blood could make you sick or even kill you if injected," warned Merchant.

Crocodiles, too, may possess similar proteins, and the team is going to investigate blood from alligator and crocodile species throughout the world.