A protein that kick-starts the immune system's first-line defence may help fight bacteria immune to antibiotics, researchers at the University of British Columbia said in a study released this week.

The discovery of the chain of amino acids — or peptide — could provide a powerful weapon in fighting "hospital superbugs" immune to antibiotics, said UBC Prof. Robert Hancock, principal investigator for a study in this week's Nature Biotechnology.

A hospital superbug is the name given to bacteria that have proven particularly resistant to antibiotics and that turn up most commonly in patients at hospitals.

One of these bugs, called MRSA or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, has already had outbreaks in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

Another superbug, called VRE or vancomycin-resistant enterococcus, resides in the stomach but can actually spread to other parts of the body in response to antibiotic therapy, making it especially dangerous when present in hospitals.

Hancock and UBC researchers tested the peptide's effectiveness by injecting it in mice both before and after infecting them with salmonella and both MRSA and VRE.

While the peptide didn't eliminate the bacteria entirely, the treated mice were nearly twice as likely to survive infection, the researchers reported.

The IDR-1 peptide — which stands for innate defence regulator — works by activating the host subject's innate immunity response system, Hancock said.

Innate immune response is how the body first responds to invading bacteria. It is effective, Hancock said, but it isn't pretty.

"It is an immediate local response, but it's akin to a tactical nuclear strike. It's designed to destroy the invading organism before it spreads, and in doing so, sometimes there is what we'd call collateral damage in the form of sores or scarring," he told CBC News Online.

Activates response while suppressing side-effects

At its worst, innate immunity can cause conditions such as sepsis, an overly aggressive inflammatory response to infection that kills as many as 200,000 annually.

The trick was to find a way to activate innate immunity's quick response while supressing its other, less than desirable side-effects, Hancock said.

The peptide achieves this delicate balance by stimulating the production of certain white blood cells that combat the invading bacteria while curbing the production of neutrophils, an aggressive white blood cell more likely to cause sepsis, he said.

Bacteria also cannot develop immunities to the peptide since it does not interact directly with them, he said.