Go for gold: Scientists reveal new weapon against drug-resistant infections

Experts have been searching for ways to develop particles of gold into drugs that can target bacterial cells without harming human cells.  

A new study has found drugs that include gold particles can be effective in tackling ‘superbugs’ such as MRSA that have evolved a resistance to conventional treatments.

When reduced to a fine dust of tiny particles, gold has been shown to have antimicrobial properties by triggering the creation of highly reactive oxygen-based chemicals that can damage the DNA in cells.

However, despite the ongoing search to figure out a way of using gold particulars without them being harmful, this technique could be lifechanging – an estimated 700,000 people die each year worldwide when they become infected with bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics, including 12,000 a year in the UK alone.

Although, if no changes are made, this figure could increase to 10 million a year globally by 2050 if a range of new treatments are not discovered, the World Health Organisation has warned. The national body has said the ‘misuse and overuse of antimicrobials’ is making the problem worse, speeding up the rate at which pathogens develop a resistance to the drugs.

Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health said: ‘Drug-resistant bacteria represent one of the most serious threats to global health. The development of antibacterial treatments is stalled and inadequate to address the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.’

A summary of the study, which is due to be presented next week at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen, also noted: ‘A promising new approach is to explore the antimicrobial properties of transition metal complexes. In this regard, gold(III) metallo-antibiotics have raised interest due to their high antibacterial activity against resistant bacteria.’

The compounds used in the study contained a type of gold known as gold(III), a positively charged particle or ion of gold. Scientists tested 19 gold-based compounds on six strains of bacteria classed by WHO as a priority for which ‘new antibiotics are urgently needed’.

Dr Soto González from the Barcelona institute said: ‘All of the gold compounds were effective against at least one of the bacterial species studied and some displayed potent activity against several multidrug-resistant bacteria.

‘It is particularly exciting to see that some of the gold complexes were effective against MRSA and multidrug-resistant A. baumannii, as [these] are two [of the] biggest causes of hospital-acquired infections.’

Image: CDC