Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of Antimicrobials
Lower respiratory tract infections and tuberculosis are responsible for the death of about 4.5 million people each year and are the main causes of mortality in children under 5 years of age. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common bacterial pathogen associated with severe pneumonia, although oth...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Immunology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02252/full |
| _version_ | 1819236248334630912 |
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| author | Roberto Vázquez Roberto Vázquez Ernesto García Ernesto García Pedro García Pedro García |
| author_facet | Roberto Vázquez Roberto Vázquez Ernesto García Ernesto García Pedro García Pedro García |
| author_sort | Roberto Vázquez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Lower respiratory tract infections and tuberculosis are responsible for the death of about 4.5 million people each year and are the main causes of mortality in children under 5 years of age. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common bacterial pathogen associated with severe pneumonia, although other Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria are involved in respiratory infections as well. The ability of these pathogens to persist and produce infection under the appropriate conditions is also associated with their capacity to form biofilms in the respiratory mucous membranes. Adding to the difficulty of treating biofilm-forming bacteria with antibiotics, many of these strains are becoming multidrug resistant, and thus the alternative therapeutics available for combating this kind of infections are rapidly depleting. Given these concerns, it is urgent to consider other unconventional strategies and, in this regard, phage lysins represent an attractive resource to circumvent some of the current issues in infection treatment. When added exogenously, lysins break specific bonds of the peptidoglycan and have potent bactericidal effects against susceptible bacteria. These enzymes possess interesting features, including that they do not trigger an adverse immune response and raise of resistance is very unlikely. Although Gram-negative bacteria had been considered refractory to these compounds, strategies to overcome this drawback have been developed recently. In this review we describe the most relevant in vitro and in vivo results obtained to date with lysins against bacterial respiratory pathogens. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:01:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c25f2de6ac3b43dcbec07687f9d16541 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-3224 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:01:25Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Immunology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c25f2de6ac3b43dcbec07687f9d165412022-12-21T17:46:01ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Immunology1664-32242018-10-01910.3389/fimmu.2018.02252408341Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of AntimicrobialsRoberto Vázquez0Roberto Vázquez1Ernesto García2Ernesto García3Pedro García4Pedro García5Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Madrid, SpainCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Madrid, SpainCentro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Madrid, SpainCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Madrid, SpainCentro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Madrid, SpainCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Madrid, SpainLower respiratory tract infections and tuberculosis are responsible for the death of about 4.5 million people each year and are the main causes of mortality in children under 5 years of age. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common bacterial pathogen associated with severe pneumonia, although other Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria are involved in respiratory infections as well. The ability of these pathogens to persist and produce infection under the appropriate conditions is also associated with their capacity to form biofilms in the respiratory mucous membranes. Adding to the difficulty of treating biofilm-forming bacteria with antibiotics, many of these strains are becoming multidrug resistant, and thus the alternative therapeutics available for combating this kind of infections are rapidly depleting. Given these concerns, it is urgent to consider other unconventional strategies and, in this regard, phage lysins represent an attractive resource to circumvent some of the current issues in infection treatment. When added exogenously, lysins break specific bonds of the peptidoglycan and have potent bactericidal effects against susceptible bacteria. These enzymes possess interesting features, including that they do not trigger an adverse immune response and raise of resistance is very unlikely. Although Gram-negative bacteria had been considered refractory to these compounds, strategies to overcome this drawback have been developed recently. In this review we describe the most relevant in vitro and in vivo results obtained to date with lysins against bacterial respiratory pathogens.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02252/fullphage lysinspneumoniarespiratory infectionantibacterialsantibiotic resistanceendolysins |
| spellingShingle | Roberto Vázquez Roberto Vázquez Ernesto García Ernesto García Pedro García Pedro García Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of Antimicrobials Frontiers in Immunology phage lysins pneumonia respiratory infection antibacterials antibiotic resistance endolysins |
| title | Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of Antimicrobials |
| title_full | Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of Antimicrobials |
| title_fullStr | Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of Antimicrobials |
| title_full_unstemmed | Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of Antimicrobials |
| title_short | Phage Lysins for Fighting Bacterial Respiratory Infections: A New Generation of Antimicrobials |
| title_sort | phage lysins for fighting bacterial respiratory infections a new generation of antimicrobials |
| topic | phage lysins pneumonia respiratory infection antibacterials antibiotic resistance endolysins |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02252/full |
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