Researchers at the University of Illinois helped lead the collaborative effort to battle strains of antibiotic-resistance methicillin-resistance Staphylococus aureus, or MRSA, infections that are spreading in epidemic proportions in hospitals and in community settings.

Staph is the leading cause of human infections in the skin, soft tissues, bones, joints and bloodstream. Federal officials estimate more than 94,000 people develop serious MRSA infections and about 19,000 people die from MRSA in the United States every year.

The multi-institutional team exploited a chemical pathway that allows the Staph bacterium to defend itself against an immune response. The researchers showed that the compound BPH-652, originally designed to lower cholesterol, blocks a key enzyme in that pathway, weakening the organism's defenses and allowing the body's immune cells to prevail against the infection.

The study that included scientists from the University of California-San Diego, the Cedar-Sinai Medical Center and the National Taiwan University appeared in the Feb. 14 issue of the online journal ScienceXpress.