The Challenge of Overcoming Antibiotic Resistance: An Adjuvant Approach?

• Published in: ACS infectious diseases Vol. 3; no. 8; pp. 559 - 563
• Main Authors: Melander, Roberta J, Melander, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 11.08.2017
• Subjects: Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic - pharmacology; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Drug Interactions; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - drug effects; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - physiology; Gram-Negative Bacteria - drug effects; Gram-Negative Bacteria - growth & development; Gram-Negative Bacteria - metabolism; Gram-Positive Bacteria - drug effects; Gram-Positive Bacteria - growth & development; Gram-Positive Bacteria - metabolism; Humans
• ISSN: 2373-8227; 2373-8227
• DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00071

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest current threats to human health, and without significant action we face the chilling prospect of a world without effective antibiotics. Although continued effort toward the development of new antibiotics, particularly those with novel mechanisms of action, remains crucial, this alone probably will not be enough to prevail, and it is imperative that additional approaches are also explored. One such approach is the identification of adjuvants that augment the activity of current antibiotics. This approach has the potential to render an antibiotic against which bacteria have developed resistance once again effective, to broaden the spectrum of an antibiotic, and to lower the required dose of an antibiotic. In this viewpoint we discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of adjuvants, and describe various approaches to their identification.