What is it about?

Bulgecin A blocks several different enzymes in bacteria. It is a naturally occurring product that was previously developed to be combined with penicillin type antibiotics to enhance killing of certain types of bacteria. It is no longer available in its pure form, so we had to test an extract containing this compound that we made ourselves. When we combined it with antibiotics that are used routinely to treat serious infections in hospitalized patients, we found that the combination could suppress the growth of even very resistant bacteria regardless of how the bacteria were able to be resistant. We also found that the extract could block a particular type of protein made by some resistant bacteria, called metallo-beta-lactamase. This is exciting because there are no current antibiotics or other drugs that can block these metallo-beta-lactamase enzymes, and they are becoming a very common reason why bacteria are resistant to our most potent and important antibiotics. We hope our research inspires someone to try and create Bulgecin A chemically and even "tweak" it so it works even better.

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Why is it important?

This research is important because we are running out of ideas about new antibiotics, and this could be a way to save the ones we already have that are safe and effective. It is also research that shows a new type of drug that might be effective at blocking one of the most common means of resistance worldwide, namely metallo-beta-lactamases.

Perspectives

I am very proud of this work as it shows that even small laboratories such as ours can contribute exciting new ideas to the field of antibiotic resistance and drug discovery. I hope that someone with more expertise in natural product separations and synthesis sees this work and takes it to the next level in development. We are desperately in need of novel approaches to treat infections with antibiotic resistant bacteria. This is another means of "stewardship", protecting the good medicines we already have.

Dr Marion J Skalweit
Case Western Reserve University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Bulgecin A as a β-lactam enhancer for carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates containing various resistance mechanisms, Drug Design Development and Therapy, September 2016, Dove Medical Press,
DOI: 10.2147/dddt.s110193.
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