Glucocorticoids and antibiotics, how do they get together?

• Published in: EMBO molecular medicine Vol. 7; no. 8; pp. 992 - 993
• Main Authors: Reidl, Joachim, Monsó, Eduard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.08.2015; EMBO Press; John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; Springer Nature
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotic tolerance; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Asthma; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Biofilms; Biofilms - drug effects; Chronic infection; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Closeup; Colonization; Corticosteroids; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - drug effects; Fibrosis; Gene expression; Glucocorticoids; Glucocorticoids - metabolism; Haemophilus Infections - microbiology; Haemophilus influenzae - drug effects; Haemophilus influenzae - physiology; Humans; Infections; Inflammation; Lung diseases; Lungs; Obstructive lung disease; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory system; Signal transduction; Steroids; Stress response; United States > US
• ISSN: 1757-4676; 1757-4684
• DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201505336

Antibiotic therapy in patients currently treated with corticosteroids is common in chronic respiratory diseases when exacerbation symptoms attributable to infection appear. Among them, obstructive diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are major health issues affecting hundreds of million people worldwide that are frequently treated with inhaled corticosteroids. Systemic corticosteroids are also used for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a less prevalent chronic respiratory disease. In this issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine , Earl et al ( 2015 ) report a potentially baleful relationship between steroid and antibiotic treatment in chronic respiratory diseases, affecting colonization persistence and antibiotic tolerance for Haemophilus influenzae, one of the leading potentially pathogenic microorganisms (PPMs) of the respiratory system. Graphical Abstract Earl et al report in this issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine that steroid and antibiotic treatment is a mean combination in the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases mediating bacteria biofilm conversion and antibiotic tolerance.