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SINGAPORE : An international team of researchers in Singapore has made a breakthrough in the treatment of sepsis.
Septic shock is a serious condition that affects 20 million people every year, and only half survive.
Professor Alirio Melendez and his team at National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine have identified the enzyme - sphingosine kinase 1 - that triggers the inflammation of white blood cells, when bacteria enters the bloodstream.
The immune system kicks in when bacteria infects the blood.
Sphingosine kinase produces proteins to fight the infection, but if it goes into overdrive, organ failure and septic shock result.
Professor Melendez believes the solution lies in lowering the enzyme's hyperactivity using a new drug called C5, in addition to antibiotics.
"Sphingosine kinase is in our body to help us combat infections. We do not want to completely mop it out because it is important for the inflammatory response. What we did then is to lower it to levels that it becomes tolerant for our body to cope with inflammation, but at the same time, leaving our defence system to combat infection," said Professor Melendez.
Current treatments involve giving the patient high doses of antibiotics and steroids. But this usually leaves the patient even more prone to further infections.
Researchers believe that by targeting sphingosine kinase, and combining the new drug C5 with antibiotics, treatment of sepsis can be more effective.
"We hope to shorten the stay of these patients in the Intensive Care Unit so that they can recover much faster from the infection, and also to prevent them from catching more hospital-acquired infections," said Dr Celestial Yap, Department of Physiology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
While no significant side effects have so far been observed in mice, Professor Melendez and his team have about two years of laboratory tests to go, before they can begin clinical trials on humans.
And from there, it will be another three years before the drug hits the market. - CNA /ls
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