Having your cake and eating it too in the field of infectious disease means discovering antibiotics that both attack the bacteria and stimulate the immune system to turn up its defenses. Researchers report a new class of antibiotics which carry out this dual function, providing some hope in the fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Functional MD’s like myself enjoy our armory of natural remedies with multiple actions. Herbs like quercetin and curcumin or vitamins like D and A sport a long list of benefits for our patient’s personalized plans. They can receive 30 benefits out of 10 therapies.
Finally, mainstream research has caught onto this notion of aiming at two birds with one stone. While looking at a new class of antibiotics targeting a specific bacterial metabolic pathway, they realized that the same compounds could upregulate the immune system. They could derive much more infection fighting power if the two processes could be combined.
In functional medicine, we tell our patients how we need to strengthen their immune systems if we ever hope to rid them of the effects of chronic infections like EBV or Lyme. Killing microbes is only half the battle. Without a strong immune defense, the infections will eventually return.
In helping patients live healthier more abundant lives we need therapies with multiple benefits AND more research by mainstream medicine into dual action pharmaceuticals
Original Article:
Kumar Sachin Singh, Rishabh Sharma, Poli Adi Narayana Reddy, Prashanthi Vonteddu, Madeline Good, Anjana Sundarrajan, Hyeree Choi, Kar Muthumani, Andrew Kossenkov, Aaron R. Goldman, Hsin-Yao Tang, Maxim Totrov, Joel Cassel, Maureen E. Murphy, Rajasekharan Somasundaram, Meenhard Herlyn, Joseph M. Salvino, Farokh Dotiwala. IspH inhibitors kill Gram-negative bacteria and mobilize immune clearance. Nature, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03074-x
Thanks to Science Daily:
The Wistar Institute. “New class of antibiotics active against a wide range of bacteria: Dual-acting immuno-antibiotics block an essential pathway in bacteria and activate the adaptive immune response.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 December 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201223125759.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
