Resistant Bacterial Pathogens: should we be concerned?
Widespread emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens is a major public health concern. There is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic agents or approaches against drug-resistant strains. The research team led by Dr. Chung-Dar Lu at GSU recently reported that exogenous biogenic polyamines (e.g. spermine and spermidine), a group of ubiquitous and essential polycationic compounds in all living organisms, can sensitize Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative opportunistic human pathogen, to a variety of b-lactams antibiotics. The sensitization effect of polyamines also applied to other human pathogens including E. coli, S. typhimurium, and even methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Georgia State University has filed a patent application based on this interesting finding, which holds a great potential in clinical applications. Publication: Polyamines increase antibiotic susceptibility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 May;50(5):1623-7.

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