Antimicrobial Resistance and Intervention Strategies in Intestinal Pathogens: A One Health Approach

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 3832

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Gastroenterology Unit, St. Rita Hospital, 83042 Atripalda, Italy
Interests: gastroenterology; inflammatory bowel disease; gut microbiota; bacteria; immunomodulatory activity; cytokines; microbial adhesion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global threat impacting human, animal, and environmental health. Intestinal pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Clostridioides, Campylobacter, MAP, S. aureus, Yersinia and fungi difficile are major contributors, capable of acquiring and transmitting resistance genes rapidly. These multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms are central to the AMR crisis.

In 2019, AMR was associated with nearly 4.95 million deaths worldwide, with 1.27 million directly attributable to resistant infections, many of which involved enteric pathogens. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics in medicine, livestock, and agriculture, along with environmental contamination, continue to drive resistance.

This Special Issue, "Antimicrobial Resistance and Intervention Strategies in Intestinal Pathogens: A One Health Approach", will showcase interdisciplinary research that bridges human medicine, veterinary, and environmental sciences.

We welcome submissions in five key areas:

  1. Infection Prevention in Public Health and Farming Systems: Improving hygiene to reduce infection and AMR spread;
  2. Vaccination and Prophylactic Strategies: Applying immunization to lower antimicrobial dependence in humans and animals;
  3. Reducing Non-Human Antibiotic Exposure: Alternatives to antibiotics in livestock, aquaculture, and crop production;
  4. Optimizing Antibiotic Stewardship: Establishing evidence-based guidelines and behaviour-driven practices to ensure responsible antimicrobial use;
  5. Investments in Antimicrobial Development and Resistance-Breaking Therapies: bacteriophages; anti-adhesive molecules; fecal microbiota transplantation; and probiotics and prebiotics.

Dr. Gaetano Iaquinto
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • epidemiology
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • multi-drug resistance
  • immunomodulatory activity
  • cytokines
  • gut microbiota
  • new antibiotics research
  • new vaccines
  • faecal microbiota transplantation
  • infection prevention

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

28 pages, 2293 KB  
Review
Natural and Synthetic Peptides as Alternatives to Antibiotics in Intestinal Infections—A Review
by Lala Stepanyan, Monika Israyelyan, Alessandro Gori, Avetis Tsaturyan, Zhaklina Saribekyan, Kristina Hovsepyan, Tatevik Sargsyan, Raffaele Pastore, Antonio De Luca and Giovanni N. Roviello
Antibiotics 2026, 15(1), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics15010068 - 8 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3420
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), evolutionarily conserved components of innate immunity characterized by their broad-spectrum efficacy and minimal resistance development, are increasingly recognized as promising therapeutic candidates. This review aims to integrate current knowledge concerning natural and synthetic antimicrobial peptides and their therapeutic effectiveness [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), evolutionarily conserved components of innate immunity characterized by their broad-spectrum efficacy and minimal resistance development, are increasingly recognized as promising therapeutic candidates. This review aims to integrate current knowledge concerning natural and synthetic antimicrobial peptides and their therapeutic effectiveness in addressing gastrointestinal infections. Methods: A literature review was performed, evaluating recent peer-reviewed studies on AMPs. The research concentrated on their molecular mechanisms of action, antimicrobial spectrum, and their interactions with standard antibiotics. More in detail, the peptide classes examined herein included defensins, cathelicidins, histatins, and various natural peptides such as lactoferricin, protamines, RegIII, and hepcidin, along with synthetic analogs like WR12, D-IK8, MSI-78, and IMX942. Results: Natural AMPs demonstrated significant antimicrobial and immunomodulatory effects against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella spp., and Shigella spp. Beyond direct antimicrobial activity, antimicrobial peptides act as integrated anti-infective agents not only by modulating host–microbiota interactions, but also preserving epithelial barrier integrity, and limiting inflammation, thereby offering a multifaceted strategy to control gastrointestinal infections. On the other hand, synthetic peptides showed improved stability, reduced cytotoxicity, and synergistic interactions with antibiotics, which suggests that they could be used either alone or in combination with other treatments. Conclusions: AMPs constitute a promising category endowed with anti-infective activity, especially for therapy of intestinal diseases, which is attributed to their distinctive anti-infective mechanisms, immune-modulating characteristics, and a relatively low propensity for resistance development compared to conventional antibiotics. However, more clinical trials and improvements to their formulation are needed to translate promising in vitro results into reliable patient outcomes. Full article
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