Researchers are in the works of developing a new alternative to antibiotic treatment against Klebsiella pneumoniae. The therapy uses antibodies to target K. pneumoniae and allows the immune system to call on neutrophils to attack and destroy the bacteria. The work comes from scientists at NIAID's Rocky Mountain Laboratories and the New Jersey Medical School-Rutgers University and was published yesterday in mBio.
The carbapenem-resistant strain of K. pneumoniae that the researchers studied is known as multilocus sequence type 258 (ST258) and is labeled as an urgent threat by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since it is resistant to most antibiotics.
In this study, the researchers found that it is the bacterial capsule that blocks neutrophils from taking down ST258. So the group extracted the capsule from two of the most abundant capsule types of ST258. They then generated antibodies to those capsules. In a cell culture experiment, they found that one of the antibodies they generated was able to help neutrophils attack the bacteria. The authors note that the results are a "proof of concept" for a potential immunotherapy.
The group's next plan is to test the therapeutic idea in mice. They will also compare immunization with purified capsule polysaccharide as a preventive approach (active immunization) versus using capsule-specific antibodies as a therapy (passive immunization). They hope that they can find a treatment that will work against this tough bacteria.
Image: Klebsiella bacteria. Image courtesy of NIAID.