Two Boston University School of Medicine researchers found an uncovered pathway in antibiotic-resistant strains of gonorrhea, marking a step toward making the sexually transmitted infection treatable.
The researchers published a study in the Journal of Microbiology highlighting the discovery of an uncovered pathway necessary for infection to occur with the pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes Gonorrhea, according to a Monday BU press release.
Understanding the process of how this pathogen causes disease in men and women will lead researchers to design ways to block the infection.
“We’re trying to understand the role of these newly identified genes,” said researcher Caroline Genco, who teaches medicine and microbiology at BUSM. “This research is important because there have been multiple studies that have identified antibiotic-resistant strains of gonorrhea.”
However, antibiotics are the only current treatment for gonorrhea, Genco said. New methods to treat these infections are in great need.
“We’re trying to understand how these genes can cure both men and women of the common infectious disease,” Genco said.
Genco and Chunxiao Yu, a post-doctoral fellow at BUSM, spent two years on the research, Genco said. Researchers used molecular genetics, such as cloning and protein purification, to identify the novel pathway.
The press release stated the pathway is critical because a single protein controls the expression of hundreds of N. gonorrhoeae genes by either increasing or decreasing the amount of these genes expressed. This single protein may help prevent disease development if it is able to communicate to the immune system to recognize and remove the bacterium.
Through their recent discovery, the researchers said they will work toward developing a new vaccine to cure antibiotic-resistant strains.
“The step after is at our STD clinical center in Beijing, China,” Genco said. “We have access to a number of patients there infected with this strain of gonorrhea.”
CORRECTION: The article originally referred to gonorrhea as a virus, which was a misnomer.
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Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a bacteria. The first sentence refers to this as virus.