Researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a type of bacteria that could potentially protect humans from the harmful side effects of antibiotics, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
Although antibiotics remain a major tool to fight bacterial infections, they can also wipe out helpful gut bacteria, which can lead to diarrhea, inflammation, or serious infections such as Clostridioides difficile. Widespread antibiotic use has also contributed to the spread of resistant microbes worldwide. Some doctors have prescribed probiotics to help, though antibiotics can also affect probiotics.
"Throughout your life, these gut microbes assemble into a highly diverse community that accomplishes important functions in your body," Andrés Cubillos-Ruiz, PhD, the lead study author and a research scientist at MIT's Synthetic Biology Center and Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, said in a statement.
"The problem comes when interventions such as medications or particular kinds of diets affect the composition of the microbiota and create an altered state, called dysbiosis," he said. "Some microbial groups disappear, and the metabolic activity of others increases. This unbalance can lead to various health issues."
With a "living biotherapeutic" – or an engineered bacteria strain – Cubillos-Ruiz and colleagues believe they may have another solution.
