The bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes triggers throat related illnesses and a proportion of deaths each year across the world. The bacterium is particularly infectious due to the production of a toxin called streptolysin S. An estimated 700 million infections occur worldwide each year, with a typical death rate of around 650,000 cases.
The treatment of choice is penicillin, with the duration of treatment 10 days minimum. However, such treatments are not always effective. Given that this organism is showing increased resistance to antibiotics, one drug being considered is one already on the market to treat the Human Immune Deficiency (HIV) virus. It seems that this drug can jam the bacterial machinery used to produce the harmful toxin.
The anti-HIV drug in question is called nelfinavir. The drug was developed to target protein on the HIV coat. The drug also acts on an enzyme found inside the S. pyogenes cell, and which is part of the mechanism that enables the bacterium to generate the toxin.
To explore this further, microbiologists have developed several nelfinavir-like compounds. In laboratory trials these have successfully halted the bacteria from producing the toxin. It is hoped that such chemicals could be used to manufacture a bacterial toxin-blocking medication.
The findings have been reported to the journal ACS Chemical Biology. The research paper is headed “HIV Protease Inhibitors Block Streptolysin S Production.”
