Antibiotics Flashcards
What can we do to change the present and future in terms of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance?
- Prolong the lifespan of current antibiotics by best practice use
- > infection control
- > best practice prescribing
- use current antibiotics in combinations that give improved activity and slow resistance development
- develop new antibiotics
- develop new strategies
- > bacteriophage therapy
What does bactericidal mean?
Antibiotic that kills the bacteria
What does bacteriostatic mean?
Antibiotic that causes growth arrest of the bacteria
What is meant by the selectivity of antibiotics?
Antibiotics are molecules that have high toxicity for bacteria but low toxicity for humans.
They target molecules that are specific for (or very different in) microbes.
What are antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis?
Penicillin Beta-lactams Vancomycin Ampicillin Cephalosporin Carbapenem Monobactam
How was penicillin discovered?
In was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming when he left a plate of bacteria when he went on vacation. When he came back he found a fungi had grown on it and had a circle around it that showed no bacterial growth.
What does penicillin target?
Peptidoglycan
What is the role of peptidoglycan?
It gives the cell structural rigidity
Are antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis bactericidal or bacteriostatic?
They are bactericidal only against growing cells.
Describe the structure of peptidoglycan
Peptidoglycan consists of a backbone made up of N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) linked beta-1,4 to N-acetylmuramic acid (NAMA) (NAG-NAMA)
These polysaccharide chains are linked to other polysaccharide chains via crosslinking.
The crosslinking chains are L-Ala-D-Glu-DAP-D-Ala units. DAP = diaminopimelic acid
Prior to crosslinking each side chain ends in D-Ala-D-Ala. Crosslinking occurs via the enzyme transpeptidase.
What is the crosslinking enzyme for peptidoglycan called?
Transpeptidase
What do beta-lactams mimic?
They mimic D-Ala-D-Ala and contain a beta-lactam ring
Do all beta-lactams have a beta-lactam ring?
yes
What are 5 beta-lactams?
Penicillin Ampicillin Cephalosporin Carbapenem Monobactam
What is the mode of action of beta-lactams?
The beta-lactam ring is recognised by glycopeptide transpeptidase. The Ser-OH recognises the beta-lactam ring and binds to it preventing it from binding to D-Ala-D-Ala
What class of antibiotics does vancomycin belong to?
Glycopeptide antibiotics
What is vancomycin active against?
It is only active against Gram positive bacteria
Vancomycin is too large to go through the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria
What is vancomycin used for?
It is used for serious, life-threatening infections by Gram positive bacteria
In particular, it is used for MRSA as a last-line treatment
What is the mode of action of vancomycin?
It binds to D-Ala-D-Ala preventing transpeptidase from binding and crosslinking the polysaccharide chains. This eventually causing destabilisation of the peptidoglycan layer causing the cell to rupture and leak.
What is the mode of action of beta-lactam resistance?
Bacteria express many enzymes for degradation of antibiotics.
For beta-lactams they express beta-lactamases.
What is the resistance mechanism for penicillin?
Penicillinase, an enzyme that breaks the beta-lactam ring turning penicillin to penicilloic acid
What are carbapenams?
They are beta-lactams, that are broad-spectrum antibiotics.
They are derivatives of the natural product thienamycin.
Do beta-lactamases work on carbapenems?
No, carbapenems are resistant to most beta-lactamases.
What is the resistance mechanism for carbapenems?
Carbapenemase, an enzyme
How did carbapenemases come about?
It first began in India in 2006 with documented cases of carbapenem resistance.
In 2011, it was discovered that NDM1 beta-lactamase was being distributed among enterobacteria.
The carbapenem resistance mechanism came from the Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) resistance gene.
This gene made its way onto a mobile transposon on a plasmid, which can be transferred between bacteria via horizontal gene transfer.
Which bacterial species did carbapenemases come from?
Klebsiella pneumoniae
What mobile transposon does blaKPC originate from?
Tn4401
How can we combat beta-lactamase resistance?
We can use a beta-lactamase inhibitor in combination with a beta-lactam
What is the mode of action of a beta-lactamase inhibitor?
It interacts with the beta-lacatamase to save the antibiotic from degradation.
What do beta-lactamase inhibitors look like?
They look like beta-lactams but they have little/no antibiotic activity
What are 3 beta-lactamase inhibitors?
Clavulanic acid
Sulbactam
Tazobactam
What is amoxicillin forte/duo?
It is amoxicillin with clavulanic acid
What is the resistance mechanism for vancomycin?
Bacteria can have the vanA gene that alters peptidoglycan synthesis.
It changes the D-Ala-D-Ala to a D-Ala-D-Lac, which is resistant to vancomycin binding