Researchers have developed a new type of antibiotic that treats the bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii, which is resistant to most current antibiotics and kills a large percentage of people with invasive infections.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii can cause serious infections in the lungs, urinary tract and blood. It is resistant to a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics called carbapenems. Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, also known as CRAB, topped the World Health Organization’s list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens” in 2017.
“These two membranes create a formidable barrier to the entry of molecules such as antibiotics,” the researchers say of the bacteria’s two double membranes. So scientists began developing the antibiotic zosurabalpin by examining about 45,000 small antibiotic molecules called macrocyclic linked peptides and identifying those that could inhibit the growth of different types of bacteria. After years of improving the potency and safety of a smaller number of compounds, researchers arrived at a modified molecule.
Research findings show that zosurbalpin was effective against more than 100 clinical samples of CRAB that were tested. The antibiotic greatly reduced bacteria levels in mice with CRAB-induced pneumonia, the researchers say. Moreover, the drug prevented the death of mice with bacterial sepsis. “Drug discovery that targets harmful gram-negative bacteria is a long-standing challenge because of the difficulties in getting molecules to cross bacterial membranes to reach targets in the cytoplasm,” the researchers wrote. Also, according to them, successful compounds must usually possess a certain combination of chemical characteristics.
2024-01-07 10:23:44
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