Researchers have developed a novel approach to the treatment of severe bacterial infections without the use of antibiotics. They hope it could someday offer a solution to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, which is making some infections harder and harder to treat. However, the technique has only been tested in mice so far. In a new study, published Sunday in Nature Biotechnology, scientists from University of Bern in Switzerland engineered artificial nanoparticles made of lipids, called "liposomes," that are a lot like the membrane of host cells. The liposomes act as decoys for bacterial toxins, sequestering and neutralizing them. Bacteria without those toxins are defenseless and can be eliminated by the person's immune system.
