Scientists in Japan have revealed how vancomycin dimers are effective against vancomycin-resistant bacteria.
Vancomycin, a glycopeptide antibiotic, is used to treat bacterial infections in cases when other antibiotics are ineffective. However, the development of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) and Staphylococcus aureus means that researchers are turning to different forms of vancomycin to improve its efficacy.
Hirokazu Arimoto at Tohoku University, Sendai, and colleagues had previously shown that vancomycin dimers displayed excellent antibacterial activity against vancomycin-resistant bacteria. Now, they have shown how the dimers interact with the bacteria.
Read the full story in Chemistry World.
The paper is free to access!
New insight into the mode of action of vancomycin dimers in bacterial cell wall synthesis
Osamu Yoshida, Jun Nakamura, Hidenori Yamashiro, Kenji Miura, Sayaka Hayashi, Kosei Umetsu, Shu Xu, Hideki Maki and Hirokazu Arimoto
Med. Chem. Commun., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c0md00230e
