Lung association supports Heuck's cystic fibrosis research

Alejandro Heuck, assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been selected by the American Lung Association (ALA) as a Diseases of Infants and Children Scholar in 2009-10 for his research to identify new methods to block bacteria from injecting toxins into lung cells.

Specifically, Heuck is seeking a way to block a deadly lung infection caused by the often antibiotic-resistant bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common cause of death in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). For this “new and very challenging research project,” says Heuck, the ALA funding allowed him to collect preliminary data to support a federal grant to continue the CF research.

“In cystic fibrosis, the lungs get infected by pathogens very early, and once they are established it’s very difficult to eradicate them,” Heuck says. “Ultimately, the pathogen damages the lung and the person with CF dies. We try to delay this as long as possible using antibiotics, but the pathogen rapidly learns how to resist the treatment. We need to find alternative ways to attack the pathogen.”

With the an American Lung Association research grant, Heuck is studying how P. aeruginosa injects toxins into target cells through holes it pokes in the cell wall using a “bacterial machine” resembling a syringe. Toxins enter through this hole and damage the lung cell. By isolating the proteins that poke the holes, Heuck is beginning to see how they work. He has so far identified some protein sections that interact with the target cell membrane. The next step will be to combine protein segments and see how they create the bacterial syringe. This research should provide information on potential targets for new drug therapy that would block P. aeruginosa toxin injection in the lung. “Knowing how the protein creates the hole could allow us to find a way to plug it up and interfere with the bacterial infection,” Heuck says.

July 7, 2009.

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