Sectors & markets
Singapore researchers identify immune target in persistent wound infections
PHOTO: The Straits Times
Market Info | Health & Lifestyle | Geriatrics & Infectiology
Date: 1 April 2026
Region: ASEAN-O
Country: Singapore
Sector: Health & Lifestyle
Sub-sector: Infectiology
Section: Market Trends
Theme: New therapeutic targets for chronic infections
Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), in collaboration with the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) at NTU Singapore, MIT, and the University of Geneva, have uncovered a key biological mechanism explaining why certain chronic wound infections persist despite treatment. Published in Cell Host & Microbe, the study highlights the immune-suppressing strategy used by the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis to evade local immune responses.
The scientists found that E. faecalis secretes large amounts of lactic acid, lowering the pH in the wound environment and suppressing macrophage activation, which are critical immune cells for detecting and eliminating microbes. Lactic acid disrupts key signaling pathways, including NF-κB, preventing effective inflammatory responses.
Experimental models showed that strains unable to produce lactic acid were cleared faster and triggered stronger immune responses, demonstrating the central role of this mechanism in persistent infections and complex polymicrobial colonization.
These findings explain why wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers and post-surgical infections, often polymicrobial, remain therapeutically challenging. Beyond antibiotic resistance, microbial metabolites locally suppress the patient’s immune system.
The study opens the door for new treatments aimed not only at conventional antimicrobials but also at restoring local immune function, such as neutralizing wound acidity or blocking lactic acid-mediated macrophage inhibition. Such strategies could improve clinical outcomes for millions of patients with chronic wounds, a growing concern in aging healthcare systems.
