Research may lead to potential treatment for deadly bacterial infections

Collaboration between the National University of Singapore (NUS) and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) on inflammation research may lead to a potential treatment for deadly bacterial infections

Scientists from the NUS-HUJ-CREATE Inflammation Research Programme based in Singapore have found that asparaginase (ASNASE) - the enzyme that degrades the amino acid asparagine and serves as a common chemotherapeutic agent - arrests Group A Streptococcus (GAS) growth in human blood and blocks bacteria's proliferation, thus initiating a new potential treatment against deadly Streptococcal infections. These findings were first published today in the prestigious scientific journal Cell.

The research programme is funded by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore, under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. The NUS-HUJ-CREATE Inflammation Research Programme was established in 2011, and is focused on advancing an understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms of inflammation of diseases prevalent in Asia, a field that is currently under-studied.