Over the past 60 years, much progress has been made by the cystic fibrosis (CF) research community to improve quality of life and care for CF patients, and that progress continues today. In fact, new discoveries and ongoing research are taking place that continue to change the course of care for people living with CF. It is because of advancements in research that antimicrobial therapy, which kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans, has helped to nearly double the life expectancy of Canadian CF patients. Despite these advances, bacterial infections continue to drive pulmonary exacerbations and raise the risk of death for CF patients. To reduce these risks, patients are often treated with inhaled antibiotics. Even with intense antibiotic treatment, bacteria can still grow in the CF airways, generating chronic infections.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA)is the most notorious of these bacteria, and it is the most prevalent bacterium in adults with CF. Worse yet, P. aeruginosa can survive antibiotic treatment, even when clinical labs diagnose the isolated bacterium as antibiotic susceptible. Topping it off, P. aeruginosa can produce an arsenal of toxins that cause inflammation in the CF airways. Developing a way to keep this harmful bacterium at bay is crucial for ensuring long-term care for CF patients. In this regard, new research can provide hope.
To that end, Canadian CF researchers at McGill University are working hard to understand how to best prevent P. aeruginosa from growing in the CF airways. The team led by Dr. Dao Nguyen, funded by Cystic Fibrosis Canada, recently published a study that details a possible way in which P. aeruginosa can survive intense antibiotic treatment. Her team identified a group of CF children still positive for P. aeruginosa a month after first detection, even after 28 days of twice-daily antibiotic therapy.
Some immune cells are specialized in destroying bacteria. One way immune cells can help kill bacteria is by swallowing them up. Dr. Nguyen’s team found that P. aeruginosa cells that survived antimicrobial treatment were better able to resist these immune cells, the key finding from the study.
