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Emerging Strategies to Combat β-Lactamase Producing ESKAPE Pathogens

2020; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 21; Issue: 22 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/ijms21228527

1661-6596

Corneliu Ovidiu Vrâncianu, Irina Gheorghe, Elena-Georgiana Dobre, Ilda Czobor Barbu, Roxana Elena Cristian, Marcela Popa, Sang Hee Lee, Carmen Limban, Ilinca Margareta Vlad, Mariana Carmen Chifiriuc,

Pneumonia and Respiratory Infections

Since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1929 as a therapeutic agent against staphylococci, β-lactam antibiotics (BLAs) remained the most successful antibiotic classes against the majority of bacterial strains, reaching a percentage of 65% of all medical prescriptions. Unfortunately, the emergence and diversification of β-lactamases pose indefinite health issues, limiting the clinical effectiveness of all current BLAs. One solution is to develop β-lactamase inhibitors (BLIs) capable of restoring the activity of β-lactam drugs. In this review, we will briefly present the older and new BLAs classes, their mechanisms of action, and an update of the BLIs capable of restoring the activity of β-lactam drugs against ESKAPE (Enterococcus spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.) pathogens. Subsequently, we will discuss several promising alternative approaches such as bacteriophages, antimicrobial peptides, nanoparticles, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) cas technology, or vaccination developed to limit antimicrobial resistance in this endless fight against Gram-negative pathogens.