Scientists from the University of Bern have developed a novel substance for the treatment of severe bacterial infections without antibiotics, which would prevent the development of antibiotic resistance.
Sort of an odd treatment, but also pales in awesomeness to targeted phage therapy, in which you inject yourself with viruses designed to target the strain of bacteria causing the infection. This is the first I've seen of toxin sequestration, but if it doesn't work, broad spectrum antibiotics are expected to give way to treatments tailored to the specific strain(s) infecting you.
I guess I'm not understanding the mechanism for success. If the liposomes sequester just the toxins, how is the infection itself eliminated? Is the idea that staving off the deadly toxins buys the host enough time to catch up to and effectively fight the infection? Also their claim of not promoting bacterial resistance reeks of bogosity if there's any selective pressure put on the bacteria. That pressure--and it sure looks like it's there to me--will cause the bacteria to evolve a resistance/workaround for this treatment as well.
In cases of severe bacterial infection, the toxin is often what overwhelms the body's immune system. If you can nullify the toxin, then the immune system can focus on the actual infection, which may be all that is needed to fight it off. As long as the toxins are not necessary for bacterial reproduction, this does not induce additional selective pressure on bacteria. So there will be no adaptation response.
Thanks, Mindwolf. Hey, I guessed correctly for once! I agree that the selective pressure will not come close to ribosomal inhibitors, e.g., but it seems like it's there nonetheless. Presumably those toxins confer some kind of selective advantage or they would likely not be there.