The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence Therapeutics
Although antibiotics have been indispensable in the advancement of modern medicine, there are downsides to their use. Growing resistance to broad-spectrum antibiotics is leading to an epidemic of infections untreatable by first-line therapies. Resistance is exacerbated by antibiotics used as growth...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/10/2049 |
| _version_ | 1797513803972214784 |
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| author | Julia A. Hotinger Seth T. Morris Aaron E. May |
| author_facet | Julia A. Hotinger Seth T. Morris Aaron E. May |
| author_sort | Julia A. Hotinger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Although antibiotics have been indispensable in the advancement of modern medicine, there are downsides to their use. Growing resistance to broad-spectrum antibiotics is leading to an epidemic of infections untreatable by first-line therapies. Resistance is exacerbated by antibiotics used as growth factors in livestock, over-prescribing by doctors, and poor treatment adherence by patients. This generates populations of resistant bacteria that can then spread resistance genes horizontally to other bacterial species, including commensals. Furthermore, even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they harm commensal bacteria leading to increased secondary infection risk. Effective antibiotic treatment can induce bacterial survival tactics, such as toxin release and increasing resistance gene transfer. These problems highlight the need for new approaches to treating bacterial infection. Current solutions include combination therapies, narrow-spectrum therapeutics, and antibiotic stewardship programs. These mediate the issues but do not address their root cause. One emerging solution to these problems is anti-virulence treatment: preventing bacterial pathogenesis instead of using bactericidal agents. In this review, we discuss select examples of potential anti-virulence targets and strategies that could be developed into bacterial infection treatments: the bacterial type III secretion system, quorum sensing, and liposomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:21:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-160b1cb7b4734902809162458aaa1b00 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:21:45Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-160b1cb7b4734902809162458aaa1b002023-11-22T19:13:26ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072021-09-01910204910.3390/microorganisms9102049The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence TherapeuticsJulia A. Hotinger0Seth T. Morris1Aaron E. May2Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23219, USADepartment of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23219, USADepartment of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23219, USAAlthough antibiotics have been indispensable in the advancement of modern medicine, there are downsides to their use. Growing resistance to broad-spectrum antibiotics is leading to an epidemic of infections untreatable by first-line therapies. Resistance is exacerbated by antibiotics used as growth factors in livestock, over-prescribing by doctors, and poor treatment adherence by patients. This generates populations of resistant bacteria that can then spread resistance genes horizontally to other bacterial species, including commensals. Furthermore, even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they harm commensal bacteria leading to increased secondary infection risk. Effective antibiotic treatment can induce bacterial survival tactics, such as toxin release and increasing resistance gene transfer. These problems highlight the need for new approaches to treating bacterial infection. Current solutions include combination therapies, narrow-spectrum therapeutics, and antibiotic stewardship programs. These mediate the issues but do not address their root cause. One emerging solution to these problems is anti-virulence treatment: preventing bacterial pathogenesis instead of using bactericidal agents. In this review, we discuss select examples of potential anti-virulence targets and strategies that could be developed into bacterial infection treatments: the bacterial type III secretion system, quorum sensing, and liposomes.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/10/2049antibioticsanti-virulenceresistancetype III secretion systemquorum sensingliposomes |
| spellingShingle | Julia A. Hotinger Seth T. Morris Aaron E. May The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence Therapeutics Microorganisms antibiotics anti-virulence resistance type III secretion system quorum sensing liposomes |
| title | The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence Therapeutics |
| title_full | The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence Therapeutics |
| title_fullStr | The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence Therapeutics |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence Therapeutics |
| title_short | The Case against Antibiotics and for Anti-Virulence Therapeutics |
| title_sort | case against antibiotics and for anti virulence therapeutics |
| topic | antibiotics anti-virulence resistance type III secretion system quorum sensing liposomes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/10/2049 |
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