Cannabis molecule kills gonorrhea, MRSA and C. diff bacteria

Five years ago, an Australian diagnosed with gonorrhea was treated with a single antibiotic treatment to get rid of the sexually transmitted disease from her body. After a few years of fast-forwarding, STDs could no longer be treated with a single antibiotic, and resistance developed over the years. It’s the same thing that happens to many other types of bacteria, where antibiotic resistance increases year by year, resulting in deadly strains for which there is no cure like MRSA.

Currently, Australian researchers are taking steps towards a new class of antibiotics against resistant strains. This is the first time in more than 60 years. Mark Blaskovich et al. For the first time showed that synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) can be killed Neisseria gonorrhea, Bacteria that cause gonorrhea.

In their study, Was announced in Communication biology, Researchers have shown that not only is CBD effective against gonorrhea, but additional types of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria are also effective. CBD showed excellent efficacy against four Gram-negative bacteria: Gonorrhea (Gonorrhea), Meningococcus (Meningitis), Moraxella catarrhalis (Respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia) and Legionella pneumophila (Legionellosis).

It also showed consistent antibacterial activity against a diverse range of more than 20 Gram-positive bacteria, including multiple strains of MRSA and C.Los Tridium is difficult. Consistent with previous studies, CBD was inactive against 20 Gram-negative bacteria, including: E. coli And Klebsiella Pneumoniae.

Confocal microscopy revealed that CBD is good at penetrating and destroying biofilms. Biofilms are the key to treatment because they help bacteria survive antibiotic treatment.

The potential for new antibiotics should always be weighed against the tendency for resistance to develop. To determine the resistance frequency level of CBD, Braskovich and his team at the Superbug Solution Center mimicked a two-week patient treatment in a laboratory model to see how fast the bacteria mutated. When tested against MRSA and multiple strains P. acnes, CBD showed little or no evoked resistance.

“Cannabidiol has been shown to be less prone to develop resistance to bacteria, even if it accelerates potential development by increasing the concentration of antibiotics during treatment,” Blazkovich explained.

The researchers also found that a chemical analog of CBD was active against the tested bacteria.

“This is particularly exciting as new molecular classes of antibiotics against Gram-negative bacterial infections have not been discovered and approved since the 1960s. We are now designing new analogs of CBD within improved properties. You can consider it, “says Blaskovich.

Overall, research results show that CBD is a poorly studied class of compounds and that there are various pathways to explore in the future.

“I think cannabidiol kills bacteria by rupturing the outer cell membrane, but we still don’t know exactly how it’s done. We need to do more research,” Blazkovich said. Stated.

Further research is needed to determine if there are specific pathways targeted by CBD and if CBD can be modified to provide systemic activity. During their study, it was demonstrated that the team’s assessment of systemic antibacterial activity of CBD in immunocompromised mouse models was unsuccessful. However, early evidence suggests to scientists that the physicochemical properties of CBD may change.

“Structural activity correlation with MRSA N. gonorrheaMeans there is a possibility to develop N. gonorrhea “A target agent that is more selective than Gram-positive bacteria, as well as other Gram-negative bacteria,” the researchers conclude in the paper. “Wide-area antibiotics are increasingly recognized as an important advance in antibiotic technology and can save the natural microbiota by not killing beneficial symbiotic bacteria. This is another class of antibacterial. It may bring substantial advantages to cannavidiol derivatives over compounds. “

As the research progressed, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Botanix worked with Australian scientists to advance topical CBD preparations into clinical trials for preoperative MRSA decolonization. Phase 2a clinical results are expected earlier this year.

Photo: Bacteria growing in the form of synthetic cannabidiol molecules.Credits: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Queensland