Abstract

The widespread antimicrobial resistance (AMR) calls for the development of new antimicrobial strategies. Antibiotic adjuvant rescues antibiotic activity and increases the life span of the antibiotics, representing a more productive, timely, and cost-effective strategy in fighting drug-resistant pathogens. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from synthetic and natural sources are considered new-generation antibacterial agents. Besides their direct antimicrobial activity, growing evidence shows that some AMPs effectively enhance the activity of conventional antibiotics. The combinations of AMPs and antibiotics display an improved therapeutic effect on antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and minimize the emergence of resistance. In this review, we discuss the value of AMPs in the age of resistance, including modes of action, limiting evolutionary resistance, and their designing strategies. We summarise the recent advances in combining AMPs and antibiotics against antibiotic-resistant pathogens, as well as their synergistic mechanisms. Lastly, we highlight the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of AMPs as potential antibiotic adjuvants. This will shed new light on the deployment of synergistic combinations to address the AMR crisis.

摘要

广泛的抗菌素耐药性 (AMR) 要求制定新的抗菌策略。抗生素佐剂可挽救抗生素活性并延长抗生素的寿命，代表了对抗耐药病原体的更高效、更及时且更具成本效益的策略。来自合成和天然来源的抗菌肽 (AMP) 被认为是新一代抗菌剂。除了直接的抗菌活性外，越来越多的证据表明，一些 AMP 可有效增强传统抗生素的活性。AMP 和抗生素的组合对抗生素耐药性细菌感染显示出更好的治疗效果，并最大限度地减少了耐药性的出现。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 AMP 在抵抗时代的价值，包括作用方式，限制进化阻力及其设计策略。我们总结了 AMPs 和抗生素联合对抗抗生素耐药病原体的最新进展，以及它们的协同机制。最后，我们强调了与使用 AMP 作为潜在抗生素佐剂相关的挑战和机遇。这将为部署协同组合以解决 AMR 危机提供新的思路。