Mitomycin C as an Anti-Persister Strategy against Toxicity and Synergy Studies.

The combination of several therapeutic strategies is often seen as a good way to decrease resistance rates, since bacteria can more easily overcome single-drug treatments than multi-drug ones. This strategy is especially attractive when several targets and subpopulations are affected, as it is the case of persister cells, a subpopulation of bacteria able to transiently survive antibiotic exposures. This work aims to evaluate the potential of a repurposed anticancer drug, mitomycin C, combined with the lytic phage vB_KpnM-VAC13 in vitro and its safety in an in vivo murine model against two clinical isolates of this pathogen, one of them exhibiting an imipenem-persister phenotype.

Regulation of anti-phage defense mechanisms by using cinnamaldehyde as a quorum sensing inhibitor.

Background: Multidrug-resistant bacteria and the shortage of new antibiotics constitute a serious health problem. This problem has led to increased interest in the use of bacteriophages, which have great potential as antimicrobial agents but also carry the risk of inducing resistance. The objective of the present study was to minimize the development of phage resistance in strains by inhibiting quorum sensing (QS) and thus demonstrate the role of QS in regulating defense mechanisms.

Killing of Sporozoites by Basic Amphipathic α-Helical Fusion Peptides.

Membranolytic molecules constitute the first line of innate immune defense against pathogenic microorganisms. sporozoites are potentially exposed to these cytotoxic molecules in the hemolymph and salivary glands of mosquitoes, as well as in the skin, blood, and liver of the mammalian host. Here, we show that sporozoites are resistant to bacteriolytic concentration of cecropin B, a cationic amphipathic antimicrobial insect peptide.

Improving phage therapy by evasion of phage resistance mechanisms.

Antibiotic failure is one of the most worrisome threats to global health. Among the new therapeutic efforts that are being explored, the use of bacteriophages (viruses that kill bacteria), also known as 'phages', is being extensively studied as a strategy to target bacterial pathogens. However, one of the main drawbacks of phage therapy is the plethora of defence mechanisms that bacteria use to defend themselves against phages.

Molecular studies of phages- in mucoid environment: innovative use of mucolytic agents prior to the administration of lytic phages.

Mucins are important glycoproteins that form a protective layer throughout the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. There is scientific evidence of increase in phage-resistance in the presence of mucin for some bacterial pathogens. Manipulation in mucin composition may ultimately influence the effectiveness of phage therapy.