Chlorine Bleach Key Weapon vs Bacteria Infections

Friday 20 July 2007

Chlorine Bleach a Key Weapon Against Bacterial Infections

Scientists at the University of Otago, Christchurch have discovered that bleach is one of the key factors used by white blood cells to control bacterial infections in the body. Exactly how these foot soldiers of the immune system control and kill invading bacteria has long been an area of controversy in medical research.

Associate Professor Tony Kettle and Professor Christine Winterbourn from the Free Radical Research Group have had their ground-breaking research published in two top international journals detailing exactly how cells use bleach to control infection. (‘Biochemistry’ and ‘The Journal of Biological Chemistry’).

“This is a significant finding because it demonstrates that chlorine bleach is a major weapon white blood cells use to kill bacteria” says Associate Professor Kettle.

“ It also means that chlorine bleach may contribute to inflammatory tissue damage in diseases such as atherosclerosis, cystic fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and emphysema.”

The University of Otago medical scientists have been locked in debate with other international research teams, trying to explain how and why white blood cells, or neutrophils, are so effective in declaring war on bacteria. Researchers at The University College of London have argued recently that enzymes, not bleach, inside white blood cells digest and kill bacteria they have trapped, but the Christchurch results refute that.

White blood cells normally use large amounts of oxygen when they kill bacteria. The University of Otago researchers have demonstrated for the first time that bleach is the key element by studying all the chemical reactions in the cell pathways, from using oxygen to the manufacture and use of large a mounts of bacteria-killing chlorine bleach.

“It’s now clear from our extensive research that the machinery of white blood cells is geared to producing bleach,” says Kettle. “Our experiments show that white blood cells first trap bacteria, and then produce bleach to zap the invaders. This happens millions of times in a healthy immune system fighting an infection.”

Paradoxically, the production of bleach by white blood cells can also cause problems in some people. Especially vulnerable are those with particular inflammatory diseases like cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and blood poisoning. Bleach with these conditions tends to exacerbate rather than protect, and in the case of cystic fibrosis, damages lung tissue.

However, with this knowledge of the exact mechanisms used by white blood cells to produce bleach, scientists can now develop drugs that target the enzyme that produces bleach in an attempt to combat inflammation in these chronic diseases.

ENDS

www.chmeds.ac.nz

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