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Immune system Strong acid bombs against bacteria - Then the pus turns green
Pus looks rather disgusting because of its greenish color, but it does a very important function for the body. The secretion produces an aggressive acidity against bacteria. These new study findings provide starting points for therapies to strengthen the immune system.
Certain enzyme is responsible for green color of pus
In a sinusitis, by an abscess at the buttocks or due to an inflamed wound on the leg: No matter what the cause or at which position of the body pus exits, the secretion usually looks pretty disgusting. Sometimes the secretion is more yellowish, in other cases also green. The color provides information about the processes in the body. For example, the enzyme myeloperoxidase, MPO for short, is responsible for a green color. Scientists from Switzerland have now examined this enzyme in more detail and found out something astonishing.
In case of infections or inflamed wounds green pus often forms. The color gets the secretion by the enzyme MPO. Scientists have now been able to clarify the exact role of this enzyme. (Image: tibanna79 / fotolia.com) Extremely aggressive acid
As reported by the University of Basel in a communication, researchers at the university have managed to clarify the role of the enzyme MPO.
The enzyme, which gives the pus a greenish color, thus produces an extremely aggressive acid in the fight against infections, with which it can kill pathogens, without damaging the surrounding tissue.
According to the experts, the results of the study, which are now published in the journal Nature Microbiology, provide starting points for therapies to strengthen the immune system.
White blood cells against bacterial pathogens
White blood cells play a crucial role in the fight against bacterial pathogens. They identify intruders, eat them and then render the bacteria harmless with highly toxic substances.
It is important that these substances only hit the bacteria and cause as few collateral damage as possible in the surrounding tissue.
The Swiss scientists have now discovered how white blood cells solve this difficult task. Thus, the enzyme MPO sits directly on the surface of bacteria and produces there a very aggressive acid, which reacts immediately with the environment, a hole in the cell envelope of the bacterium eats and kills it.
MPO fights very precisely and precisely against bacterial infections without causing collateral damage in the environment.
"Powerless against this acid bomb"
White blood cells fight bacterial invaders with the help of hydrogen peroxide. The enzyme MPO forms hypochlorous acid, a substance that is far more effective and aggressive than hydrogen peroxide, according to the researchers. The acid sits directly on the surface of the bacteria, where it reacts immediately and kills the intruder.
"Bacteria are virtually powerless against this acid bomb," said study author Prof. Dirk Bumann. "Because hypochlorous acid is so highly reactive, the bomb immediately reacts with the next biomolecules. It does not get into the wider environment, but is ignited locally. The bacteria die and the surrounding tissue is spared. "
In some people, hydrogen peroxide accumulates
According to the data, the study also investigated cells of humans that lack the enzyme MPO due to a genetic defect. According to the experts, this defect affects around one in 5,000 people, so it is very rare.
In these people, the hydrogen peroxide is not converted to hypochlorous acid, but accumulates until it finally flows into the blood cell and out.
"Even without MPO, the bacteria are rendered harmless. However, not only the bacterium, but also the blood cells themselves and the environment are damaged, "explained Bumann.
Co-author PD Dr. Nina Khanna added, "The extent to which inflammatory reactions without MPO and the associated death of blood cells are detrimental or even cause long-term damage has not yet been researched."
New forms of therapy in the fight against bacterial infections
According to Khanna, the cellular collateral damage in this country does not currently play such an important role, "because in our latitudes we are much less likely to be infected than in the past". However, it would be conceivable to develop new forms of therapy in the fight against bacterial infections that could support the immune response by specifically strengthening the MPO mechanism.
"This approach is interesting in that so far there are only drugs that do the opposite and inhibit MPO. The reason is that MPO can also have negative effects on the body in heart disease, "says Bumann.
However, if such MPO inhibitors were widely used, the disadvantages of infectious diseases could become more apparent. (Ad)