1.5-2 times faster and 2 orders of magnitude more
A new system for finding effective antibacterial agents has been created
Anna Stavina, XX2 century
American scientists have developed a new way to search for medicines and their combinations to fight infections resistant to a large number of different antibiotics. Researchers from the National Center for Advanced Translational Sciences took part in the work The National Institutes of Health of the USA (National Institutes of Health) and the National Institute for the Study of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases). They have created a test that quickly evaluates thousands of medicines and determines how effective they will be against various types of resistant bacteria.
The created selection method can help in the development of new approaches to the use of already known drugs and compounds to combat serious nosocomial infections and new infectious diseases.
Wei Zheng, Dr. Peter Williamson and Dr. Karen Frank used a new test to evaluate the effectiveness of 4,000 registered medicines and biologically active compounds. Scientists have discovered 25 substances that inhibit the growth of two strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae resistant to most known antibiotics. This microorganism is the cause of a deadly disease found in hospitals around the world.
As part of the study, scientists also used a new method to evaluate the effectiveness of drug combinations to combat antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. They managed to find three combinations of three drugs each, which proved effective against 10 strains resistant to a variety of antibacterial agents.
To overcome the limitations of existing methods, scientists have developed an ultra-productive matrix for growing bacteria, in which 1536 cells were used instead of 96 cells. The time of bacterial cultivation was reduced from 18-24 hours to 8-16.
The results of the work were published in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections (Sun et al., Rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test for identification of new therapeutics and drug combinations against multidrug-resistant bacteria).
The new test uses a high-throughput evaluation method, which makes it possible to analyze thousands of drugs and compounds that inhibit bacterial growth. Among the drugs evaluated by the test were antibacterial and antifungal drugs, antiseptics, as well as antiviral, antimalarial and anticancer agents. Of the 25 compounds found by the researchers, 11 have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the remaining 14 are under registration.
In recent years, the number of drug-resistant bacterial strains has been constantly increasing, especially in hospital settings. These strains lead to the development of serious, sometimes life-threatening, diseases. However, in hospitals it is impossible to quickly test many different drugs and their combinations in order to find those that will be effective against a particular pathogen."
The researchers realized that simply identifying 25 active drugs and compounds is not enough to help patients with therapy-resistant infections, especially since some of the detected substances were characterized by weak efficacy or low and ineffective concentrations.
Then the scientists decided to focus on finding combinations of drugs that could help in the fight against resistant bacteria. To do this, the researchers combined one of 25 substances with a conventional antibiotic, which is ineffective when prescribed as a single drug. Scientists have set themselves the goal of making Klebsiella pneumoniae sensitive to traditional remedies again. During the work, the researchers managed to find 4 combinations of two drugs each that suppressed the growth of antibiotic-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Antibiotics that were previously ineffective against these strains have become effective again in the presence of the second agent. This happened, for example, with the antibacterial drug colistin, which in combination with doxycycline was able to overcome the resistance of bacteria.
The researchers also studied several combinations of three broad-spectrum antibiotics that could be prescribed to patients with severe infections in situations where the doctor has little time to make a decision. For the study, 10 of the most common resistant bacterial strains were taken.
Scientists believe that the new technology can be refined in such a way as to enable doctors to make decisions "in real time" about the treatment of diseases caused by the most resistant bacteria. Zheng believes that this method can become an important tool for practicing physicians, but the commercialization of the project will begin only after some time.
"Our method can give doctors critical information for a quick response to emerging infections," Zheng added (in a press release from NIH Research on new, rapid screening test identifies potential therapies against drug-resistant bacteria).
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23.11.2016