Search results for " antivirulence"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Bacterial Biofilm Inhibition in the Development of Effective Anti-Virulence Strategy
2018
There is an urgent need for new therapeutic strategies to counteract the global threat of antibiotic resistance, which has become, in recent years, one of the major public health concern. An important contribution to the microbial survival in hostile environments has been given by the capability of pathogens to form sessile communities able to adhere to biotic or abiotic surfaces, known as biofilms.
Novel strategies in the war against antibiotic resistance
2021
The global threat of antibiotic resistance is steadily growing. Antibiotic resistancemay involve any class of antibiotic, including second- and third-line agents that have been considered to date the last-resort drugs to counteract common infections. We may lose our capability to keep under control many common bacterial infections [1]. Despite this, in the past decade significant research efforts have been made to develop new antibacterial strategies able to treat multidrug-resistant infections; however, no new therapeutic approach has yet reached the clinic [2,3]. In order to identify new valuable antimicrobial drugs, it is important to consider the main bacterial resistance mechanisms in …
Therapeutic Strategies To Counteract Antibiotic Resistance in MRSA Biofilm‐Associated Infections
2021
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has emerged as one of the leading causes of persistent human infections. This pathogen is widespread and is able to colonize asymptomatically about a third of the population, causing moderate to severe infections. It is currently considered the most common cause of nosocomial infections and one of the main causes of death in hospitalized patients. Due to its high morbidity and mortality rate and its ability to resist most antibiotics on the market, it has been termed a “superbug”. Its ability to form biofilms on biotic and abiotic surfaces seems to be the primarily means of MRSA antibiotic resistance and pervasiveness. Importantly, more tha…
Anti-adhesion agents against Gram-positive pathogens
2014
The rise of antibiotic-resistance as well as the deficiency of investments by pharmaceutical companies in the development of new antibiotics, have stimulated the investigation of alternative strategies to conventional antibiotics for counteracting the pathogens. A fundamental step of Gram positive pathogenesis is the bacterial adhesion to the host tissue involving a direct and a specific interaction between bacterial surface molecules and host ligands. Targeting the adhesion is a good strategy to design novel anti-infective drugs agents useful to interfere with the pathogenic process and with a virulence mechanism as biofilm formation. This review is focused on anti-virulence compounds whic…
Targeting the Sortase A Transpeptidase to Tackle Gram-positive Pathogens
2013
The virulence factors include the cell-wall associated proteins called MSCRAMMs (microbial surface components recognizing adhesive matrix molecules) that can promote the adhesion to host proteins, for example, the fibronectin that is very common in host tissues. The cellwall associated proteins are necessary for host colonization, invasion, immune evasion and biofilm formation [4]. The biofilms, multistratified bacterial communities that grow on a biological or artificial surface, are responsible for chronic infectious diseases and for device or biomaterial associated infections, and are more resistant to host immune defence system and to conventional antibiotics [5].