Resistance, Treatment and Prevention of ESKAPE Pathogens

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Mechanism and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 1153

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA
2. Department of Chemistry, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA
3. Department of Pathology, Prisma Health, Greenville, SC 29605, USA
4. Family Medicine Residency at Lee Health, Florida State University College of Medicine, Fort Myers, FL 33901, USA
5. Internal Medicine Residency at Lee Health, Florida State University College of Medicine, Cape Coral, FL 33990, USA
6. School of Health Science Research, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
Interests: Acinetobacter; Klebsiella; drug discovery; antimicrobial stewardship; virulence factors; infectious diseases; bacteriology
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Guest Editor
Department of Biology and Marine Science, Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Fl, USA
Interests: Acinetobacter; Stenotrophomonas; drug discovery; virulence factors; infectious diseases; bacterial iron-acquisition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to submit your research pertaining to the resistance and/or treatment of ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.) for publication consideration in this Special Issue of Antibiotics. Infections caused by ESKAPE pathogens are a substantial burden on public health with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, specifically classifying carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter as well as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae as urgent threats to public health with a combined 21,600 cases, 1800 deaths, and USD 411 million in associated healthcare costs reported annually in the United States alone. These data coupled with the sparsity of information elucidating the pathophysiology of ESKAPE pathogens such as Acinetobacter, the lack of novel antibiotics in the developmental pipeline and the continued occurrence of multidrug, extensive drug-, or even pandrug-resistant isolates from clinical settings constitute public health crises warranting immediate attention. This Special Issue therefore particularly encourages submissions that describe resistance mechanisms of ESKAPE pathogens that allow these pathogens to resist destruction by the immune system, persist in the clinical environment due to resistance to disinfectants and survive clinical treatment due to antibiotic resistance. The underlying resistance mechanisms utilized by ESKAPE pathogens to survive these stressors all play a role in their pathogenicity and are valuable in understanding and treating this critical pathogen.

Dr. Steven E. Fiester
Dr. William Penwell
Guest Editors

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

  • antibiotic resistance
  • prevention methods
  • treatment strategies
  • ESKAPE pathogens

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1365 KB  
Article
Two Shorter Variants of the Proline-Rich Antimicrobial Peptide B7-005 Scaffold Active Against Clinical Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus
by Giacomo Cappella, Adriana Di Stasi, Clelia Cortese, Luisa Torrini, Agnese D’Amore, Virginia Niccolini, Luigi de Pascale, Bruno Casciaro, Mario Mardirossian, Alessandro Pini, Maria Luisa Mangoni and Marco Scocchi
Antibiotics 2026, 15(4), 412; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics15040412 - 18 Apr 2026
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Abstract
Background/Objectives: Developing novel strategies to combat respiratory infections caused by multidrug-resistant “priority pathogens” like the ESKAPEE Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus is an urgent priority. Methods: We investigated two shortened variants of the proline-rich antimicrobial peptide (PrAMP) B7-005, B7-006 (15-mer) and B7-007 (13-mer). [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Developing novel strategies to combat respiratory infections caused by multidrug-resistant “priority pathogens” like the ESKAPEE Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus is an urgent priority. Methods: We investigated two shortened variants of the proline-rich antimicrobial peptide (PrAMP) B7-005, B7-006 (15-mer) and B7-007 (13-mer). Evaluation included MIC assays against laboratory and clinical multidrug-resistant isolates, mechanistic studies of membrane permeabilization, cytotoxicity testing on BEAS-2B bronchial epithelial cells, and proteolytic stability assays in human elastase and sputum. Results: Despite their reduced size, lower positive charge, and decreased proline content, both variants retained full antimicrobial activity against clinical pathogens with consistent MIC values ≤ 25 µM. These variants exhibit membrane permeabilization in P. aeruginosa but may also relay on a hybrid mode of action involving also intracellular targets. Notably, B7-006 and B7-007 displayed low cytotoxicity compared to the lytic peptide BMAP-18. While B7-007 showed greater susceptibility to proteolytic degradation than its parent B7-005, it preserved partial integrity during the initial hours of exposure. Conclusions: Overall, these findings demonstrate that the B7 scaffold tolerates substantial truncation while preserving potency and selectivity, identifying a minimal 13-amino-acid active core. This work provides critical insights into structure–activity relationships and supports the development of compact, mechanistically versatile antimicrobial peptides to address the growing threat of multidrug-resistant respiratory pathogens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resistance, Treatment and Prevention of ESKAPE Pathogens)
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