A novel treatment for Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections

The global rise of antibiotic-resistant pathogens poses a significant challenge to modern medicine. Staphylococcus aureus, a notorious bacterium, is responsible for a spectrum of health issues ranging from minor skin infections like impetigo and cellulitis to severe, life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia and sepsis. Its ability to deploy multiple virulence factors makes it difficult to target with vaccines or monoclonal therapies¹.

To address this, Janssen Research & Development used Diamond’s I24-Microfocus Macromolecular Crystallography beamline to determine the atomic structure and interactions of SM1B74, a human-derived monoclonal antibody fused with centyrin moieties². This crucial study revealed how SM1B74 binds to bacterial targets and neutralises toxins, guiding the design and optimisation of mAbtyrin treatments to effectively combat S. aureus infections.

Find out what they discovered.

^{1Lab-made molecules called monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to treat various diseases}

^{2 These centyrin moieties are small, engineered protein segments derived from a human protein called Tenascin C. They have exceptional stability, strong binding capabilities, and high specificity.}