Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a new way to prevent and treat Chlamydia, the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection in the world.
The new treatment differs from the traditional anti-biotic treatment as it is a type of gene therapy that is delivered via nanotechnology and is showing a 65 per cent success rate in preventing chlamydia infection on a single dose.
“As
antibiotic
resistance
continues
to
develop,
people
may
experience
Chlamydia
infections
that
cannot
be
treated
through
conventional
means,
which
is
causing
increasing
public
health
challenges,”
said
Emmanuel
Ho,
a
professor
at
Waterloo’s
School
of
Pharmacy.
“If
left
untreated
or
if
treatment
takes
an
extended
period
of
time
it
can
lead
to
infertility
and
other
reproductive
issues
so
finding
new
ways
to
treat
this
common
infection
is
important.
The new treatment created in Ho’s lab targets Chlamydia infection by preventing the majority of bacteria from entering cells in the genital tract and destroying any bacteria that is able to penetrate a cell wall. The team was able to achieve this by using a small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) to target a specific gene called PDGFR-beta in the female reproductive tract, which creates a protein that binds to Chlamydia bacteria.
“By targeting PDGFR-beta we’re able to stop the creation of the protein that Chlamydia will use to enter genital tract skin cells,” said Ho. “As a result, an incoming infection has fewer targets to latch onto and infection is less likely to occur.”
If Chlamydia bacteria can bind to cells and enter them the nanomedicine treatment is designed to activate autophagy, a cellular process where infected skin cells are able to form a bubble around that bacteria and destroy it.
On its own, siRNA cannot enter skin cells to reduce PDGFR-beta expression and prevent Chlamydia binding. The new gene therapy uses a unique nanoparticle that enables siRNA to enter the cells, reduce Chlamydia’s ability to bind and destroy invasive bacteria and prevent the disease from spreading.
Ho’s new treatment is detailed in a new study, Autophagy induction and PDGFR-β knockdown by siRNA-encapsulated nanoparticles reduce Chlamydia trachomatis infection, that appears in the journal Scientific Reports.