Innovative Solutionsto Sticky Situations:Antiadhesive Strategies forTreating Bacterial Infections

摘要

Bacterial adherence to host tissue is an essentialprocess in pathogenesis, necessary for invasion and colonizationand often required for the efficient delivery of toxins andother bacterial effectors. As existing treatment options forcommon bacterial infections dwindle, we find ourselvesrapidly approaching a tipping point in our confrontationwith antibiotic-resistant strains and in desperate need ofnew treatment options. Bacterial strains defective inadherence are typically avirulent and unable to causeinfection in animal models. The importance of this initialbinding event in the pathogenic cascade highlights itspotential as a novel therapeutic target. This article seeks tohighlight a variety of strategies being employed to treat andprevent infection by targeting the mechanisms of bacterialadhesion. Advancements in this area include the developmentof novel antivirulence therapies using small molecules,vaccines, and peptides to target a variety of bacterial infections.These therapies target bacterial adhesion through a numberof mechanisms, including inhibition of pathogen receptorbiogenesis, competition-based strategies with receptor andadhesin analogs, and the inhibition of binding throughneutralizing antibodies. While this article is not an exhaustivedescription of every advancement in the field, we hope itwill highlight several promising examples of the therapeuticpotential of antiadhesive strategies.