Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0671, USA.
J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2011 Apr;21(4):391-9.
Free fatty acids (FFAs) are known to have bacteriocidal activity and are important components of the innate immune system. Many FFAs are naturally present in human and animal skin, breast milk, and in the bloodstream. Here, the therapeutic potential of FFAs against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is demonstrated in cultures and in mice. Among a series of FFAs, only oleic acid (OA) (C18:1, cis-9) can effectively eliminate Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) through cell wall disruption. Lauric acid (LA, C12:0) and palmitic acid (PA, C16:0) do not have this ability. OA can inhibit growth of a number of Gram-positive bacteria, including hospital and community-associated MRSA at a dose that did not show any toxicity to human sebocytes. The bacteriocidal activities of FFAs were also demonstrated in vivo through injection of OA into mouse skin lesions previously infected with a strain of MRSA. In conclusion, our results suggest a promising therapeutic approach against MRSA through boosting the bacteriocidal activities of native FFAs, which may have been co-evolved during the interactions between microbes and their hosts.
游离脂肪酸（FFAs）具有杀菌活性，是先天免疫系统的重要组成部分。许多 FFAs 天然存在于人体和动物皮肤、母乳以及血液中。在这里，我们证明了 FFAs 对耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）的治疗潜力，这种潜力在培养物和小鼠中都得到了证实。在一系列 FFAs 中，只有油酸（OA）（C18:1，顺式-9）能够通过破坏细胞壁有效消除金黄色葡萄球菌（S. aureus）。月桂酸（LA，C12:0）和棕榈酸（PA，C16:0）则没有这种能力。OA 可以抑制许多革兰氏阳性菌的生长，包括医院和社区相关的 MRSA，其剂量对人皮脂腺没有任何毒性。通过将 OA 注射到先前感染 MRSA 菌株的小鼠皮肤损伤中，我们在体内也证明了 FFAs 的杀菌活性。总之，我们的研究结果表明，通过增强天然 FFAs 的杀菌活性来对抗 MRSA 是一种很有前途的治疗方法，这种活性可能是在微生物与其宿主相互作用过程中共同进化而来的。
