Comparative in vitro activities of azlocillin-cefotaxime and azlocillin-tobramycin combinations against blood and multi-drug resistant bacterial isolates.

Background: The need for suitable antibacterial agents effective against Multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria is acknowledged globally. The present study was designed to evaluate the possible antibacterial potential of an extracted compound from edible flowers of Moringa oleifera. Methods: Five different solvents were used for preparing dried flower extracts. The most effective extract was subjected to fractionation and further isolation of the active compound with the highest antibacterial effect was obtained using TLC, Column Chromatography and reverse phase- HPLC. Approaches were made for characterization of the isolated compound using FTIR, NMR and Mass spectrometry. Antibacterial activity was evaluated according to the CLSI guidelines. Results: One fraction of aqueous acetic acid extract of M. oleifera flower was found highly effective and more potent than conventional antibiotics of different classes against Multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacilli (MDR-GNB) when compared. The phytochemical analysis of the isolated compound revealed the presence of hydrogen-bonded amine and hydroxyl groups attributable to unsaturated amides. Conclusion: The present study provided data indicating a potential for use of the flowers extract of M. oleifera in the fight against infections caused by lethal MDR-GNB. Recommendations: Aqueous acetic acid flower extract of M. oleifera is effective, in-vitro, against Gram-negative bacilli. This finding may open a scope in pharmaceutics for the development of new classes of antibiotics.

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SMAD1 as a biomarker and potential therapeutic target in drug-resistant multiple myeloma

Biomarker Research ◽

10.1186/s40364-021-00296-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jian Wu ◽

Min Zhang ◽

Omar Faruq ◽

Eldad Zacksenhaus ◽

Wenming Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Myeloma ◽

Drug Resistance ◽

Therapeutic Target ◽

Biological Activities ◽

Xenograft Model ◽

Myeloma Cell ◽

Soft Agar ◽

Drug Resistant ◽

Migration Assay

Abstract Background SMAD1, a central mediator in TGF-β signaling, is involved in a broad range of biological activities including cell growth, apoptosis, development and immune response, and is implicated in diverse type of malignancies. Whether SMAD1 plays an important role in multiple myeloma (MM) pathogenesis and can serve as a therapeutic target are largely unknown. Methods Myeloma cell lines and primary MM samples were used. Cell culture, cytotoxicity and apoptosis assay, siRNA transfection, Western blot, RT-PCR, Soft-agar colony formation, and migration assay, Chromatin immunoprecipitation (Chip), animal xenograft model studies and statistical analysis were applied in this study. Results We demonstrate that SMAD1 is highly expressed in myeloma cells of MM patients with advanced stages or relapsed disease, and is associated with significantly shorter progression-free and overall survivals. Mechanistically, we show that SMAD1 is required for TGFβ-mediated proliferation in MM via an ID1/p21/p27 pathway. TGF-β also enhanced TNFα-Induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8) expression and inhibited apoptosis through SMAD1-mediated induction of NF-κB1. Accordingly, depletion of SMAD1 led to downregulation of NF-κB1 and TNFAIP8, resulting in caspase-8-induced apoptosis. In turn, inhibition of NF-κB1 suppressed SMAD1 and ID1 expression uncovering an autoregulatory loop. Dorsomorphin (DM), a SMAD1 inhibitor, exerted a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on drug-resistant MM cells with minimal cytotoxicity to normal hematopoietic cells, and further synergized with the proteasomal-inhibitor bortezomib to effectively kill drug-resistant MM cells in vitro and in a myeloma xenograft model. Conclusions This study identifies SMAD1 regulation of NF-κB1/TNFAIP8 and ID1-p21/p27 as critical axes of MM drug resistance and provides a potentially new therapeutic strategy to treat drug resistance MM through targeted inhibition of SMAD1.

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In vitro activity of sulbactam-durlobactam against extensive-drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates belonging to South America major clones

Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance ◽

10.1016/j.jgar.2021.05.001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Carolina S. Nodari ◽

Fernanda F. Santos ◽

Mariana N.L. Kurihara ◽

Tiago B. Valiatti ◽

Rodrigo Cayô ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Acinetobacter Baumannii ◽

Vitro Activity ◽

Drug Resistant ◽

In Vitro Activity

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Exploring Galleria mellonella larval model to evaluate antibacterial efficacy of Cecropin A (1-7)- Melittin against multi-drug resistant enteroaggregative Escherichia coli

Pathogens and Disease ◽

10.1093/femspd/ftab010 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jess Vergis ◽

S V S Malik ◽

Richa Pathak ◽

Manesh Kumar ◽

Nitin V Kurkure ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Galleria Mellonella ◽

In Vivo Model ◽

Drug Resistant ◽

Physiological Concentration ◽

Microbial Drug Resistance ◽

Cecropin A ◽

Screening And Identification

Abstract High throughput in vivo laboratory models is need for screening and identification of effective therapeutic agents to overcome microbial drug-resistance. This study was undertaken to evaluate in vivo antimicrobial efficacy of short-chain antimicrobial peptide- Cecropin A (1–7)-Melittin (CAMA) against three multi- drug resistant enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (MDR-EAEC) field isolates in a Galleria mellonella larval model. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC; 2.0 mg/L) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC; 4.0 mg/L) of CAMA were determined by microdilution assay. CAMA was found to be stable at high temperatures, physiological concentration of cationic salts and proteases; safe with sheep erythrocytes, secondary cell lines and commensal lactobacilli at lower MICs; and exhibited membrane permeabilisation. In vitro time-kill assay revealed concentration- and time-dependent clearance of MDR-EAEC in CAMA-treated groups at 30 min. CAMA- treated G. mellonella larvae exhibited an increased survival rate, reduced MDR-EAEC counts, immunomodulatory effect and proved non-toxic which concurred with histopathological findings. CAMA exhibited either an equal or better efficacy than the tested antibiotic control, meropenem. This study highlights the possibility of G. mellonella larvae as an excellent in vivo model for investigating the host-pathogen interaction, including the efficacy of antimicrobials against MDR-EAEC strains.

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Bacteriophages to Control Multi-Drug Resistant Enterococcus faecalis Infection of Dental Root Canals

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms9030517 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 517

Author(s):

Mohamed El-Telbany ◽

Gamal El-Didamony ◽

Ahmed Askora ◽

Eman Ariny ◽

Dalia Abdallah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Enterococcus Faecalis ◽

Root Canal ◽

Phage Therapy ◽

Ex Vivo ◽

Burst Size ◽

Resistant Bacteria ◽

Drug Resistant ◽

Range Analysis ◽

Root Canals

Phage therapy is an alternative treatment to antibiotics that can overcome multi-drug resistant bacteria. In this study, we aimed to isolate and characterize lytic bacteriophages targeted against Enterococcus faecalis isolated from root canal infections obtained from clinics at the Faculty of Dentistry, Ismalia, Egypt. Bacteriophage, vB_ZEFP, was isolated from concentrated wastewater collected from hospital sewage. Morphological and genomic analysis revealed that the phage belongs to the Podoviridae family with a linear double-stranded DNA genome, consisting of 18,454, with a G + C content of 32.8%. Host range analysis revealed the phage could infect 10 of 13 E. faecalis isolates exhibiting a range of antibiotic resistances recovered from infected root canals with efficiency of plating values above 0.5. One-step growth curves of this phage showed that it has a burst size of 110 PFU per infected cell, with a latent period of 10 min. The lytic activity of this phage against E. faecalis biofilms showed that the phage was able to control the growth of E. faecalis in vitro. Phage vB_ZEFP could also prevent ex-vivo E. faecalis root canal infection. These results suggest that phage vB_ZEFP has potential for application in phage therapy and specifically in the prevention of infection after root canal treatment.

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In silico molecular docking and in vitro antimicrobial efficacy of phytochemicals against multi-drug-resistant enteroaggregative Escherichia coli and non-typhoidal Salmonella spp.

Gut Pathogens ◽

10.1186/s13099-021-00443-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Padikkamannil Abishad ◽

Pollumahanti Niveditha ◽

Varsha Unni ◽

Jess Vergis ◽

Nitin Vasantrao Kurkure ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Molecular Docking ◽

In Silico ◽

Docking Studies ◽

Antimicrobial Efficacy ◽

Drug Resistant ◽

Protein Motifs ◽

Phytochemical Compounds ◽

In Silico Molecular Docking

Abstract Background In the wake of emergence of antimicrobial resistance, bioactive phytochemical compounds are proving to be important therapeutic agents. The present study envisaged in silico molecular docking as well as in vitro antimicrobial efficacy screening of identified phytochemical ligands to the dispersin (aap) and outer membrane osmoporin (OmpC) domains of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) and non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. (NTS), respectively. Materials and methods The evaluation of drug-likeness, molecular properties, and bioactivity of the identified phytocompounds (thymol, carvacrol, and cinnamaldehyde) was carried out using Swiss ADME, while Protox-II and StopTox servers were used to identify its toxicity. The in silico molecular docking of the phytochemical ligands with the protein motifs of dispersin (PDB ID: 2jvu) and outer membrane osmoporin (PDB ID: 3uu2) were carried out using AutoDock v.4.20. Further, the antimicrobial efficacy of these compounds against multi-drug resistant EAEC and NTS strains was determined by estimating the minimum inhibitory concentrations and minimum bactericidal concentrations. Subsequently, these phytochemicals were subjected to their safety (sheep and human erythrocytic haemolysis) as well as stability (cationic salts, and pH) assays. Results All the three identified phytochemicals ligands were found to be zero violators of Lipinski’s rule of five and exhibited drug-likeness. The compounds tested were categorized as toxicity class-4 by Protox-II and were found to be non- cardiotoxic by StopTox. The docking studies employing 3D model of dispersin and ompC motifs with the identified phytochemical ligands exhibited good binding affinity. The identified phytochemical compounds were observed to be comparatively stable at different conditions (cationic salts, and pH); however, a concentration-dependent increase in the haemolytic assay was observed against sheep as well as human erythrocytes. Conclusions In silico molecular docking studies provided useful insights to understand the interaction of phytochemical ligands with protein motifs of pathogen and should be used routinely before the wet screening of any phytochemicals for their antibacterial, stability, and safety aspects.

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