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IMAGE: An antibiotic (green), bound in the human-like yeast ribosome (gray), allows for synthesis of some proteins (represented in orange, purple, and blue) but not others (dark green). view more
Credit: Maxim Svetlov/UIC
According to researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, the antibiotics used to treat common bacterial infections, like pneumonia and sinusitis, may also be used to treat human diseases, like cancer. Theoretically, at least.
As outlined in a new
Nature Communications study, the UIC College of Pharmacy team has shown in laboratory experiments that eukaryotic ribosomes can be modified to respond to antibiotics in the same way that prokaryotic ribosomes do.