Scientists discover a new part of the immune system

A new part of the immune system has been discovered and it is a gold mine of potential antibiotics, scientists said.

They showed that part of the body known to recycle protein has a secret mode that can spit an arsenal of chemicals killing bacteria.

Researchers in Israel say that this transforms our understanding of how we are protected against infection.

And gives a new place to search for antibiotics to tackle the growing problem of superbaceaees that are resisting our current drugs.

The discovery focuses on the proteasome – a small structure found in each cell of the body.

Its main role is to cut old proteins into small pieces so that they can be recycled to make new ones.

But a series of experiences, Detailed in the Nature Journalshows that the proteasome detects when a cell has been infected with bacteria.

It then modifies the structure and the role. It begins to transform old proteins into weapons that can tear the external layer of bacteria to kill them.

Professor Yifat Merbl, of the Weizmann Institute of Science, said to me: “It is really exciting, because we did not know that it happened.

“We have discovered a new immunity mechanism that allows us to defend a bacterial infection.

“This happens throughout the body in all cells and generates a brand new class of potential natural antibiotics.”

The research team followed a process which they called “diving with garbage dump” to find these natural antibiotics.

They were tested on bacteria that grow in the laboratory and on mice with pneumonia and sepsis. The researchers said they obtained results comparable to certain established antibiotics.

And when the researchers took laboratory cells and disabled the proteasome, they were much easier to infect with bacteria like Salmonella.

Professor Daniel Davis, the chief of life sciences and immunologist at the Imperial College of London, said that the results were “extremely provocative and very interesting” because they changed our understanding of the way our body fights infection.

“What is really exciting about this is a completely unknown process by which anti-German molecules are made inside our cells, it seems deeply important and surprising.”

But he warned that transforming this into a new source of antibiotics is an idea which “must still be tested” and which will take time.

It is estimated that more than one million people a year would die from drug -resisting infections such as antibiotics.

But despite the need, there was a lack of research on the development of new antibiotics to meet demand.

In this dark context, having a new place to look at is a source of optimism for certain scientists.

Dr. Lindsey Edwards, lecturer in microbiology at King’s College in London, told the BBC: “It is a potential gold mine for new antibiotics, it’s quite exciting.

“In previous years, he has unearthed the soil (to find new antibiotics), it is wild that it is something we have in us, but amounts to having the technology to be able to detect these things.”

She also says that there could be fewer problems with the transformation into drugs because they are already products of the human body, so the “side of safety can be much easier”.