Curcumin, an antibiotic resistance breaker against a multiresistant clinical isolate of Mycobacterium abscessus.

Curcumin, a phenolic compound extracted from Curcuma longa, exerts multiple pharmacological effects, including an antimicrobial action. Mycobacterium abscessus, an environmental, nontuberculous, rapidly growing mycobacterium, is an emerging human pathogen causing serious lung infections and one of the most difficult to treat, due to its multidrug resistance and biofilm-forming ability. We wanted to evaluate the antimicrobial and antivirulence activity of curcumin and its ability to synergize with antibiotics against a clinical M.