Bacterial find points toward a vaccine for MRSA

New research led by NYU Langone Medical Center has uncovered why a particular strain of Staphylococcus aureus — known as HA-MRSA — becomes more deadly than other variations. These new findings open up possible new pathways to vaccine development against this bacterium, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says accounts for over 10,000 deaths annually, mostly among hospital patients. In a series of experiments in mice and human immune cells in the lab, recently published in the journal Nature Communications online Sept. 2, the NYU Langone team found that the presence or absence of dueling toxins, or bacterial poisons, appears to explain the major difference between HA-MRSA, and its less virulent and more common, community based-based cousin, CA-MRSA, the two main types of MRSA infection. Specifically, the researchers say, a key toxin, called LUK-PV, secreted only by community-acquired MRSA, counteracts the effects of another more deadly toxin, LUK-ED, secreted by...