Heart drug reps to kill hospital superbug Acinetobacter baumannii

Heart drug reps to kill hospital superbug Acinetobacter baumannii

A new study from Emory University addresses the growing global crisis of antibiotic-resistant infections. Many of these drug-resistant bacteria are spread throughout hospitals, and there are few antibiotics available to treat them.

The study, published inPNAslooks at a specific bacterium calledAcinetobacter baumanniiwhich is highly infectious, spreads primarily in hospitals and typically infects immunocompromised patients. The researchers used an entirely new strategy to identify weaknesses specific to resistant bacteria and target those weaknesses with an alternative drug. They found that fendiline, a drug that acts as a calcium channel blocker and was previously used to treat cardiac arrhythmias, kills the bacterium by targeting the essential lipoprotein trafficking pathway that is weakened in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

What the researchers say

It is important that we find more and better therapeutics that can target these antibiotic-resistant infections that affect patients on ventilators, those with deep soft tissue infections, and the immunocompromised. “

Philip Rather, PhD, corresponding author on the paper and professor at Emory University School of Medicine

“This novel finding exploits an existing drug, exploits a newly identified vulnerability in an antibiotic-resistant bacterium, and opens doors for the development of new antibiotics that target similar pathways,” says Jennifer Colquhoun, PhD, lead author and research scientist at Emory University.

Why is it important

• Die Entdeckung, dass Fendilin medikamentenresistente Bakterien selektiv abtöten kann, deutet auf ein schnelles Potenzial zur Behandlung von Infektionen hin, die derzeit mit vorhandenen Antibiotika schwierig oder unmöglich zu bewältigen sind.
• Da Fendilin bereits von der FDA zugelassen ist, besteht die Möglichkeit, schnellere klinische Studien und den Einsatz bei der Behandlung schwerwiegender im Krankenhaus erworbener Infektionen, insbesondere bei immungeschwächten Patienten, zu behandeln.
• Das Arzneimittel richtet sich selektiv auf das spezifische Bakterium und lässt die gesunden Bakterien bei einer Darmflora intakt.

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