Kun Na Lab develops an eradication therapy for Helicobacter pylori through light

Professor Kun Na’s research team from the Department of Biomedical-Chemical Engineering and Professor Jae-Myung Park’s team from Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital developed a multi-ligand photoresponsive capable of interacting with Helicobacter pylori using an in vivo receptor which recognizes a specific protein in the external membrane of Helicobacter pylori.

Known as the main reason for gastric inflammatory diseases and gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori was classified as a group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1994. Antibiotic-based eradication therapies including the intake of proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics are used nowadays. However, as Helicobacter strains resistant to antibiotics are increasing, the eradication rate is decreasing gradually.

To solve the problem of decreasing eradication rate caused by increasing antibiotic resistance, the research teams connected a ligand structure that can directly target Helicobacter to the photoresponsive. As a result, it was found that the multi-ligand photoresponsive developed by the research teams effectively recognized the protein in the external membrane of Helicobacter pylori. The existing antibiotics which are used to treat Helicobacter produce eradication effects by inhibiting protein synthesis inside the bacteria. On the other hand, the research teams’ multi-ligand photoresponsive induces bacterial death by producing reactive oxygen in response to light with specific wavelengths and collapsing the structure of the external membrane of Helicobacter pylori.