New insights into how germs attack the body
Scientists say they have made a "major breakthrough" in the search for alternatives to antibiotics, uncovering new insights into the way germs co-exist with or attack the body.
Led by the Schools of Life Sciences and Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, the research team have revealed that bacteria "hijack" the immune defences of the human body, adapting their lifestyle to survive our immune response or to build up their own attack.
Researchers say this discovery could assist the development of new drugs to prevent and treat infections such as epidemic meningitis and blood poisoning.
Co-author Professor Dlawer Ala'Aldeen, an expert in microbiology and infectious diseases, explained that the body releases proteins called cytokines when under attack from bacteria, to help fight off infections.
According to Prof. Ala'Aldeen, the new findings suggest that bacteria bind and take up the cytokines, enabling them to become "more aggressive and able to withstand our defences and go further to invade our tissues."
"Until now," he added, "it was thought these cytokines were there as communication messengers between our cells to help build up our defences."
Leader of the laboratory investigations, Dr Jafar Mahdavi, commented: "It was, until now, unbelievable that bacteria can use [cytokines] for their own benefit. This very exciting discovery could re-write current literature.
"The bacteria are doing things inside our bodies which nobody believed before. We now have a much better understanding of the whole mechanism – how bacteria do this and why."
Dr Mahdavi added that when researchers studied Neisseria meningitis and E. coli infection models, the different bacteria were found to behave in exactly the same way.
The real impact of these findings, according to the research team, is that scientists now know enough to investigate ways of manipulating bacterial genetics, to aid the fight against infection.
Prof Ala'Aldeen explains: "This discovery will enable us to find ways of dampening down the effects of bacterial attack on our immune system by manipulating their genetics and forcing them to ‘forget’ about invading us, and instead co-exist with us."
The research was published in the Royal Society's journal Open Biology on October 9.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
