Enzymes

WHAT ARE ENZYMES AND ENZYME THERAPY?

Enzymes are biological molecules (typically proteins) that significantly speed up the rate of virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place within cells. An essential component of enzymes are proteins which are bound by other accessory molecules known as cofactors or prosthetic groups involved in catalysis.

Enzymes have found a variety of functions in many fields of human activity. Their importance in science and research is indisputable. One of the greatest successes of enzyme therapy is in traumatology and orthopedics, but also in supportive therapy in the administration of antibiotics and in the treatment of cancer.

Enzyme therapy is a biotechnology of comparable importance to the onset of antibiotics in the 1950s. The study of lytic enzymes capable of destroying pathogenic bacteria has a huge increase in attention in basic research. This increase in attention is gradually shifting into applied research and experimental development. Enzyme therapy has less environmental burden than antibiotics. A number of economically developed countries are actually considering the introduction of enzyme therapy against infectious diseases (South Korea, China, USA).

WHY RESEARCH IN THIS AREA?

Excessive use of antibiotics in healthcare has led to the rise of multi-resistant and pan-resistant strains of bacteria. This has created a serious problem in the field of veterinary and human medicine in the fight against infectious diseases. The same problem are residues in foods that have a negative impact on human health, especially negative for the immune system. Today’s interest is mainly in non-antibiotic and non-generic preparations based on bacteriophage probiotics and enzyme therapy.

One of the most recent problems of nowadays medicine are infectious diseases, which infect patients in medical facilities (nosocomial infections). Since infected patients are usually treated with another serious disease, a newly caught infection is a serious complication in ongoing treatment, especially because of the need to deal with pathogenic organisms that are largely resistant to commonly used antibiotics.

A dramatic increase of detected Staphylococcus aureus with proven antibiotic resistance plays an absolute priority in the area of medical complications associated with infections of skin defects. The pharmaceutical industry is not enough to face this trend. That is why voices declaring the onset of the postantibiotic era are steadily growing and many innovative groups around the world are seeking to find effective preparations to combat these microorganisms. One of the most promising approaches to solve this problem is to use the enzymatic apparatus of natural parasites of bacteria (viruses) having antimicrobial effects.

AIM OF OUR RESEARCH

Our initial goal is to develop and build a pilot plant (biotechnology unit) for the production, purification and finalization of antimicrobial enzymatic preparations, especially against selected types of staphylococci colonizing human skin and other agents of acute and chronic skin infections. This biotechnology unit should create a modular platform for the production of various lytic enzymes.

Our final goal is to extend the product line with promising enzymatic preparations, which represent a modern progressive direction in the treatment of infectious diseases.

CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY

Enzyme therapy is significantly safer and more targeted than antibiotic treatment.

The decrease in the occurrence of resistant bacteria represents a significant cost and time saving for the treatment of infectious diseases.

Moreover, it also has environmental consequences that will reduce the use of broad spectrum of antibiotics and the associated waste burden.