Anti-adhesion agents against Gram-positive pathogens

Abstract

The rise of antibiotic-resistance as well as the deficiency of investments by pharmaceutical companies in the development of new antibiotics, have stimulated the investigation of alternative strategies to conventional antibiotics for counteracting the pathogens. A fundamental step of Gram positive pathogenesis is the bacterial adhesion to the host tissue involving a direct and a specific interaction between bacterial surface molecules and host ligands. Targeting the adhesion is a good strategy to design novel anti-infective drugs agents useful to interfere with the pathogenic process and with a virulence mechanism as biofilm formation. This review is focused on anti-virulence compounds which target bacterial surface molecules such as exposed proteins and theicoic acids and on their potential development as therapeutic agents alternative or complementary to conventional antibiotics in the contrast of Gram positive pathogens.The rise of antibiotic-resistance as well as the deficiency of investments by pharmaceutical companies in the development of new antibiotics, have stimulated the investigation of alternative strategies to conventional antibiotics for counteracting the pathogens. A fundamental step of Gram positive pathogenesis is the bacterial adhesion to the host tissue involving a direct and a specific interaction between bacterial surface molecules and host ligands. Targeting the adhesion is a good strategy to design novel anti-infective drugs agents useful to interfere with the pathogenic process and with a virulence mechanism as biofilm formation. This review is focused on anti-virulence compounds which target bacterial surface molecules such as exposed proteins and theicoic acids and on their potential development as therapeutic agents alternative or complementary to conventional antibiotics in the contrast of Gram positive pathogens.