A new study presented at this year’s European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) (15-18 April) in Copenhagen, Denmark, has the potential to treat multidrug-resistant “superbugs”. Several gold-based compounds have been identified.
All 19 compounds have been tested to be effective against at least one difficult-to-treat bacteria, and some compounds have been tested to be effective against multiple bacteria, so the Spanish researchers say gold-based drugs have great potential as new antibiotics.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified antibiotic-resistant bacteria as one of the greatest public health threats we face. Human race.
However, the development of new antibiotics has stalled, and some new antibiotics being developed are primarily derivatives of existing treatments.
Gold is known to have antibacterial properties, and gold metalloantibiotics (compounds with gold ions in their core) could be an exciting new approach.
To find out more, Dr. Sara M. Soto González of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (Barcelona, Spain) and colleagues studied the activity of 19 gold complexes against a variety of multidrug-resistant bacteria isolated from patients. bottom.
The complexes all belong to the same family but differ slightly in structure.
The six bacteria studied were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, which causes skin and other infections), Staphylococcus epidermidis (which can cause catheter-related infections), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (infections such as pneumonia). causing pneumonia) and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (causing pneumonia and other infections). infections), Acinetobacter baumannii (blood and urinary tract infections and pneumonia), and Escherichia coli (blood and urinary tract infections and pneumonia).
All strains studied were multidrug resistant. Four (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Baumani, and Escherichia coli) are on the World Health Organization’s “priority pathogens”1 list of antibiotic resistance. This means that he is one of the bacteria judged to pose the greatest risk to human health. Multidrug-resistant S. maltophilia is increasingly found in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis.
In tests, 16/19 (84%) of the gold complexes were highly effective against MRSA and S. epidermidis.
Another 16 of the conjugates were effective against other bacteria, all Gram-negative. Gram-negative bacteria are highly resistant to antibiotics, making the need for new treatments particularly urgent.
Gold complexes kill bacteria using a variety of techniques. They stop enzymes from working, disrupt bacterial membrane function, and damage DNA. Importantly, this multimodal mechanism should prevent the development of antimicrobial resistance.
Dr. Soto González concludes:
“It is particularly interesting to see that some of the gold complexes were effective against MRSA and multidrug-resistant A. baumannii, as there are two major causes of nosocomial infections.
“The type of gold complexes we studied, known as gold(III) complexes, are relatively easy and cheap to produce. They can also be easily modified, offering enormous scope for drug development.” To do.
“Studies on other types of gold metalloantibiotics have also yielded promising results, and the future looks bright for gold-based antibiotics.”
Original: The future is bright for gold-based antibiotics
Than: Barcelona Institute for Global Health | University of Oviedo
