Âé¶¹ÒùÔº


Safe injection method for traditional topical antibiotic could reduce antibiotic resistance

Method to make traditional topical antibiotic safe to inject, potentially reducing antibiotic resistance
A model for the trafficking of PI4P and the role of Neo1 in maintaining PI4P membrane asymmetry. PM, plasma membrane; Pi, inorganic phosphate; PI, phosphatidylinositol; PS, phosphatidylserine. Credit: Nature Cell Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41556-025-01692-z

Widely used to prevent infection, one of the active ingredients in the ointment, Neosporin, is neomycin. Discovered in the 1940s, neomycin is an effective topical antibiotic; however, if injected into the body to treat systemic infections, it can cause deafness, kidney damage, and neurological damage.

In a study published in , Research Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Bhawik Jain and his colleagues determined why some human cell types are adversely affected by neomycin and how removing the lipid phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI4P), which transmits information within and between cells, can make neomycin a safe and effective drug injection.

This discovery could help fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria—a global public health threat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The team studied a family of proteins called P4-ATPases, which transport specific lipids from the outer to the inner membrane of cells. These proteins are essential for healthy cell function in the human body. Defects in P4-ATPases are linked to various human diseases, including severe neurological disorders.

During their experiments, Jain and his team used yeast as a , which contains the protein Neo1 that is similar to the human proteins ATP9A and APT9B.

When Neo1 presented a defect, it would cause the lipid PI4P to appear in the outside layer of the cell membrane even though it is normally housed within. This allowed neomycin to bind to the lipid and enter the cell, causing adverse effects.

In humans, cells that normally express low levels of ATP9A and ATP9B, like kidney cells, expose PI4P on the outside of the membrane, which makes these cells sensitive to neomycin.

"It is essential to understand the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in order to develop more effective drugs," said Todd Graham, Stevenson Chair of Biological Sciences and senior communicating officer of the study.

"We knew that Neo1 played an important role in , and we finally—after several years of research and multiple publications on this topic—developed a sufficient set of tools to crack the problem. It should be possible to remove PI4P from the outer layer of the plasma membrane of human cells and make them resistant to the drug while the bacteria remains sensitive."

Moving forward, the team plans to test various ways to remove PI4P from the outer layer of kidney cells to protect them from neomycin, as well as to test the importance of PI4P for human cell sensitivity to other antibiotics. In doing so, they will be able to find additional treatments to fight .

More information: Bhawik K. Jain et al, P4-ATPases control phosphoinositide membrane asymmetry and neomycin resistance, Nature Cell Biology (2025).

Journal information: Nature Cell Biology

Provided by Vanderbilt University

Citation: Safe injection method for traditional topical antibiotic could reduce antibiotic resistance (2025, October 13) retrieved 13 October 2025 from /news/2025-10-safe-method-traditional-topical-antibiotic.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Old puzzle around protein distribution in plant cells solved with discovery of lipid switch

0 shares

Feedback to editors