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Biomedicines
Special Issues
Novel Antibacterial, Antibiofilm and Anti-virulence Candidates
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Novel Antibacterial, Antibiofilm and Anti-virulence Candidates

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Discovery, Development and Delivery".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 5364

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Wael Hegazy

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zagzig University, Zagzig, Egypt
Interests: bacterial virulence; bacterial resistance; bacteria as a vehicle for vaccination; repurposing of drugs; anti-virulence agents
Dr. Amr S. Abu Lila

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, University of Hail, Hail 81442, Saudi Arabia
2. Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt
Interests: nanoparticles; anticancer; cancer immunotherapy; drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Tarek S. Ibrahim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
2. Department of Pharmaceutical Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt
Interests: medicinal chemistry; development of new drugs; anticancer; antivirals; antibacterial

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growing microbial resistance to antibiotics is an increasingly challenging issue that global health faces. The dwindling discovery of new antibiotics worsens the situation and mandates new approaches and strategies to conquer microbial resistance. Bacteria recruit diverse virulence factors and employ several systems to control the regulation of these virulence arsenals. Among the most resistant microbial phenotypes, bacterial biofilms constitute a huge obstacle against efficient antibiotic treatments. Targeting bacterial virulence and diminishing biofilms greatly attenuates bacteria and eases their eradication through antibiotics. Targeting virulence can be achieved by targeting virulence-controlling systems. Among the most involved virulence-controlling systems, quorum sensing (QS) plays a crucial role in orchestrating the production of bacterial virulence factors and biofilms. Moreover, several approaches have been suggested to eradicate bacterial biofilms and inhibit bacterial virulence, such as the use of antimicrobial nanoparticles and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). This issue focuses on the discovery of new antibacterial and antibiofilm candidates to serve as adjuvants to antibiotics in the treatment of aggressive infections. 

Dr. Wael Hegazy
Dr. Amr S. Abu Lila
Dr. Tarek S. Ibrahim
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Biomedicines 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 2600 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

  • approaches to target bacterial virulence
  • new antibacterial candidates
  • anti-virulence agents
  • antibiofilm agents
  • quorum sensing targeting
  • antibiofilm nanoparticle
  • anti-virulence nanoparticles
  • antimicrobial peptides (AMPs)
  • evaluation of antibiotics’ adjuvants in the treatment of aggressive infections
  • gram-positive and -negative biofilms
  • candida biofilms

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 5808 KiB  
Article
Synergistic Benefits: Exploring the Anti-Virulence Effects of Metformin/Vildagliptin Antidiabetic Combination against Pseudomonas aeruginosa via Controlling Quorum Sensing Systems
by Maan T. Khayat, Hisham A. Abbas, Tarek S. Ibrahim, Samar S. Elbaramawi, Ahdab N. Khayyat, Majed Alharbi, Wael A. H. Hegazy and Fatma Al-zahraa A. Yehia
Biomedicines 2023, 11(5), 1442; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11051442 - 14 May 2023
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2147
Abstract
The repurposing of drugs is one of the most competent strategies for discovering new antimicrobial agents. Vildagliptin is a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPI-4) that is used effectively in combination with metformin to control blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. This study was designed [...] Read more.
The repurposing of drugs is one of the most competent strategies for discovering new antimicrobial agents. Vildagliptin is a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPI-4) that is used effectively in combination with metformin to control blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. This study was designed to evaluate the anti-virulence activities of this combination against one of the most clinically important pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The current findings show a significant ability of the vildagliptin–metformin combination to diminish biofilm formation, bacterial motility, and the production of virulent extracellular enzymes and pyocyanin pigment. Furthermore, this drug combination significantly increased the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to oxidative stress, indicating immunity enhancement in the eradication of bacterial cells. In compliance with the in vitro findings, the histopathological photomicrographs of mice showed a considerable protective effect of the metformin–vildagliptin combination against P. aeruginosa, revealing relief of inflammation due to P. aeruginosa-induced pathogenesis. P. aeruginosa mainly employs quorum sensing (QS) systems to control the production of its huge arsenal of virulence factors. The anti-virulence activities of the metformin–vildagliptin combination can be interrupted by the anti-QS activities of both metformin and vildagliptin, as both exhibited a considerable affinity to QS receptors. Additionally, the metformin–vildagliptin combination significantly downregulated the expression of the main three QS-encoding genes in P. aeruginosa. These findings show the significant anti-virulence activities of metformin–vildagliptin at very low concentrations (10, 1.25 mg/mL, respectively) compared to the concentrations (850, 50 mg/mL, respectively) used to control diabetes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Antibacterial, Antibiofilm and Anti-virulence Candidates)
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16 pages, 2090 KiB  
Article
Identification of Bacterial Strains and Development of anmRNA-Based Vaccine to Combat Antibiotic Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus via In Vitro and In Silico Approaches
by Muhammad Naveed, Muhammad Waseem, Tariq Aziz, Jawad ul Hassan, Syeda Izma Makhdoom, Urooj Ali, Metab Alharbi and Abdulrahman Alsahammari
Biomedicines 2023, 11(4), 1039; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11041039 - 28 Mar 2023
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2645
Abstract
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms is a significant concern in global health. Antibiotic resistance is attributed to various virulent factors and genetic elements. This study investigated the virulence factors of Staphylococcus aureus to create an mRNA-based vaccine that could help prevent antibiotic resistance. [...] Read more.
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms is a significant concern in global health. Antibiotic resistance is attributed to various virulent factors and genetic elements. This study investigated the virulence factors of Staphylococcus aureus to create an mRNA-based vaccine that could help prevent antibiotic resistance. Distinct strains of the bacteria were selected for molecular identification of virulence genes, such as spa, fmhA, lukD, and hla-D, which were performed utilizing PCR techniques. DNA extraction from samples of Staphylococcus aureus was conducted using the Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) method, which was confirmed and visualized using a gel doc; 16S rRNA was utilized to identify the bacterial strains, and primers of spa, lukD, fmhA, and hla-D genes were employed to identify the specific genes. Sequencing was carried out at Applied Bioscience International (ABI) in Malaysia. Phylogenetic analysis and alignment of the strains were subsequently constructed. We also performed an in silico analysis of the spa, fmhA, lukD, and hla-D genes to generate an antigen-specific vaccine. The virulence genes were translated into proteins, and a chimera was created using various linkers. The mRNA vaccine candidate was produced utilizing 18 epitopes, linkers, and an adjuvant, known as RpfE, to target the immune system. Testing determined that this design covered 90% of the population conservancy. An in silico immunological vaccine simulation was conducted to verify the hypothesis, including validating and predicting secondary and tertiary structures and molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate the vaccine’s long-term viability. This vaccine design may be further evaluated through in vivo and in vitro testing to assess its efficacy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Antibacterial, Antibiofilm and Anti-virulence Candidates)
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