via CDC
Screening thousands of drugs, Stanford scientists determined that in mice, azlocillin, an antibiotic approved by the Food and Drug Administration, eliminated the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
For decades, the routine treatment for Lyme disease has been standard antibiotics, which usually kill off the infection. But for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne illness, the antibiotics don’t work, and lingering symptoms of muscle pain, fatigue and cognitive impairment can continue for years — sometimes indefinitely.
A new Stanford Medicine study in lab dishes and mice provides evidence that the drug azlocillin completely kills off the disease-causing bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi at the onset of the illness. The study suggests it could also be effective for treating patients infected with drug-tolerant bacteria that may cause lingering symptoms.
“This compound is just amazing,” said Jayakumar Rajadas, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory at the Stanford School of Medicine. “It clears the infection without a lot of side effects. We are hoping to repurpose it as an oral treatment for Lyme disease.” Rajadas is the senior author of the study, which was published online March 2 in Scientific Reports. The lead author is research associate Venkata Raveendra Pothineni, PhD.
“We have been screening potential drugs for six years,” Pothineni said. “We’ve screened almost 8,000 chemical compounds. We have tested 50 molecules in the dish. The most effective and safest molecules were tested in animal models. Along the way, I’ve met many people suffering with this horrible, lingering disease. Our main goal is to find the best compound for treating patients and stop this disease.”
Hunting for alternative drug
Frustrated by the lack of treatment options for Lyme disease patients with lingering symptoms, Rajadas and his team began hunting for a better alternative in 2011. In 2016, they published a study in Drug Design, Development and Therapy that listed 20 chemical compounds, from about 4,000, that were most effective at killing the infection in mice. All 20 had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for various uses. One, for instance, is used to treat alcohol abuse disorder.
In this most recent study, azlocillin, one of the top-20 contenders, was shown to eclipse a total of 7,450 compounds because it is more effective in killing B. burgdorferi and causes fewer side effects. Lyme disease affects more than 300,000 people annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can affect various organs, including the brain, skin, heart, joints and nervous system, and cause heart problems and arthritis if untreated. Symptoms include fever, headaches, chills, and muscle and joint pain.
Traditional antibiotics, such as doxycycline, are effective as an early course of treatment for the infection in the majority of patients, but it remains unclear why these drugs fail to treat 10% to 20% of patients, Rajadas said.
“Some researchers think this may be due to drug-tolerant bacteria living in the body and continuing to cause disease,” said Rajadas, who is also a member of the Lyme Disease Working Group at Stanford. “Others believe it’s an immune disorder caused by bacteria during the first exposure, which causes a perpetual inflammation condition. Whatever the cause, the pain for patients is still very real.”
Azlocillin comes out on top
The drug, which is not on the market, was tested in mouse models of Lyme disease at seven-day, 14-day and 21-day intervals and found to eliminate the infection. For the first time, azlocillin was also shown to be effective in killing drug-tolerant forms of B. burgdorferi in lab dishes, indicating that it may work as a therapy for lingering symptoms of Lyme disease.
Pothineni and Rajadas have patented the compound for the treatment of Lyme disease and are working with a company to develop an oral form of the drug. Researchers plan to conduct a clinical trial.
Rajadas is also a professor of bioengineering and therapeutic sciences at the University of California-San Francisco.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Lyme disease
- Dr. Amauri Wellness Centre Describes Their Lyme Disease Treatment Protocolson March 1, 2021 at 11:22 pm
Dr. Amauri Wellness Centre, a naturopathic clinic in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has recently released a blog post that describes their protocols and policies for Lyme disease treatment. The therapies ...
- Nanomechanical mechanisms of Lyme disease spirochete motility enhancement in extracellular matrixon March 1, 2021 at 8:38 am
Martin Strnad, Yoo Jin Oh, and colleagues use single-molecule force spectroscopy and an extracellular matrix (ECM) analog that mimics natural tick feeding to show that the surface proteins DbpA/B can ...
- Model Bella Hadid shares rare glimpse into life with Lyme diseaseon February 28, 2021 at 3:52 pm
Top model Bella Hadid, 24, who revealed in 2016 that she suffers from Lyme disease, shared rare behind-the-scenes photos of her hooked up to an IV drop.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
- Bella Hadid Opened Up About Life Navigating Lyme Diseaseon February 28, 2021 at 9:24 am
In a series of Instagram photos, Bella shared a rare glimpse into her life navigating Lyme. "Living with a few chronic auto immune disease =always finding time for my IVs," she captioned the photos ...
- Bella Hadid Shares Photos of Her Life with Lyme Disease: 'Finding Time for My IVs'on February 27, 2021 at 4:10 pm
Bella Hadid is offering a rare glimpse into how she treats her autoimmune disorders. On Friday, the 24-year-old model posted a series of photos on her Instagram page, showing her hooked up to an IV.
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Lyme disease
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Azlocillin
- Topic List : Precision Healthon February 23, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Researchers hope to soon be able to process more than 1,000 tests per day. Screening thousands of drugs, Stanford scientists determined that in mice, azlocillin, an antibiotic approved by the Food and ...
- Management of Respiratory Pseudomonal Infections in Cystic Fibrosis: Many Strategies to Consideron February 1, 2021 at 4:00 pm
and azlocillin (a ureidopenicillin no longer manufactured). b May be combined with tazobactam (a ß-lactamase inhibitor) to increase antibiotic spectrum. c Previously known as Pseudomonas cepacia.
- Bacterial Resistance and Its Management in the 21st Centuryon August 14, 2020 at 5:48 pm
Those with activity against this organism include the ureidopenicillins (mezlocillin, azlocillin, piperacillin) and the carboxylic derivatives of penicillin (carbenicillin, ticarcillin). Ticarcillin ...
- Bacterial Resistance and Its Management in the 21st Centuryon September 12, 2019 at 10:30 am
Those with activity against this organism include the ureidopenicillins (mezlocillin, azlocillin, piperacillin) and the carboxylic derivatives of penicillin (carbenicillin, ticarcillin). Ticarcillin ...
- Chapter VI.5. Antibioticson July 17, 2015 at 1:40 pm
A 7 year old presents to the emergency department with fever and an expanding area of redness over his left calf. He has had fever for only 8 hours with a maximum temperature of 39 degrees C. He had a ...