New β-Lactamase Enzymes Specific Inhibitor for Treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria

Introduction: Antibiotic resistance is an evolving threat of our time, influencing public health and provision of health care worldwide. Antibiotic resistance not only can affect the individuals at any stage of life but also the veterinary and agriculture industries. Developing new antibiotics or β-Lactamase Enzymes Specific Inhibitors (BESI) are two main strategies to overcome the problem of multi-drug resistant bacteria. Aim: Our main goal was to evaluate the possibility of our developed BESI (Inhibitor-X) to inhibit β-Lactamase enzymes of some of the most multidrug resistant Gram Positive and Gram Negative bacteria. Materials and methods: During the past 18 years, we tried to develop and evaluate numerous products functioning as BESIs.Reference strains of Gram Positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, ATCC® 43300) (WHO high priority) and Gram Negative bacteria (Klebsiella pneumonia ATCC ® BAA-1144 (AMPC weak positive), Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC® 700603, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC® 700603 (ESBL), Enterobacter cloacae ATCC® BAA-1143 (AMPC highly positive) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC® 27853) (WHO critical priority) were obtained commercially. The bacteria were cultured in Mueller-Hinton agar at 35°C and antibiogram tests were performed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Antimicrobial activities were investigated by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion test. MICs were determined in triplicates by the broth microdilution MIC method recommended by CLSI.The antibiotic concentrations ranged from 0.03125-16 µg/ml. The titer plates were inoculated with bacteria having 0.5 McFarland turbidity, and incubated aerobically at 35°C for 24 hours. The synergistic effect was measured using the following: , where ɑ is the inhibitory concentration of the antibiotic and ɓ is the inhibitory concentration of the antibiotic in the presence of Inhibitor-X. Cytotoxicity of Inhibitor-X was evaluated by mouse embryo assay and in cell culture.Results: Inhibitor-X in combination with cefotaxime resulted in a significantly large inhibition zone (0 vs. 25±1 mm, mean±SEM, n= 138, P<0.001) (Fig.1B&K, Fig.2). Similar results were obtained using Inhibitor-X + ceftriaxone (10±1 vs. 15±2 mm, mean±SEM, n= 97, P<0.01) (Fig.2). Inhibitor-X showed also excellent synergistic action in combination with cefepime to inhibit MRSA, ATCC® 43300 (0 vs. 24±1mm, mean±SEM, n=111, P<0.001) (Fig. 2D&E). The effect of Inhibitor-X with cefotaxime against Enterobacter cloacae ATCC® BAA-1143 was highly improved (0 vs. 15±1 mm, mean±SEM, n=64,P<0.001)(Fig. 4G vs. 4H). The effect of Inhibitor-X with cefotaxime was also improved against Klebsiella pneumonia ATCC ® BAA1144 (25±1 vs. 33±1 mm, mean±SEM, n=76)(Fig.3)(Fig.4A vs. 4B), Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC® 700603(24±1 vs. 30±1 mm, mean±SEM, n=91) (Fig.3) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC® 27853 (18±1 vs.34±1 mm, mean±SEM, n=63)(Fig.3)

             Figure 1. Inhibitor-X enhances  the antibacterial effect of main antibiotics against Staphylococcus aureus, ATCC® 43300

              A: cefotaxime+ clavulanic acid (12)                   E: cefepime+ Inhibitor-X (25)                        I: cefotaxime (0)
              B: cefotaxime + Inhibitor-X (33)                          F: ceftazidime + Inhibitor-X (25)                  J: cefotaxime/tazobactam + clavulanic acid (0)
              C: cefepime (21) G: gentamicin (8)                    G: gentamicin (8)                                            K: cefotaxime+ Inhibitor-X (25)
              D: cefepime + Inhibitor-X (25)                             H: Inhibitor-X (0)                                            ( ): Inhibition zone in millimeter

              Figure 2. Comparison of the size of inhibition zone
              using Inhibitor-X in combination with different
              antibiotics of β-Lactam family against Staphylococcus
              aureus (MRSA, ATCC® 43300).
            * No inhibition zone was detected

   Figure 3. Comparison of the size of inhibition zone by
   using Inhibitor-X and Cefotaxime in different multi-drug
   resistant bacteria.
* No inhibition zone was detected

 

          Figure 4. Inhibitor-X enhances the
          antibacterial effect of main antibiotics against
          multidrug resistant bacteria

             A: cefotaxime + clavulanic acid (0)                              E: ceftazidime (0)                                                      1144: Klebsiella pneumonia, ATCC® BAA-1144 
             B: cefotaxime + Inhibitor-X (33)                                    F: ceftazidime + Inhibitor-X (0)                                1143: Enterobacter cloacae ATCC® BAA-1143 
             C: ceftazidime (0)                                                            G: cefotaxime (0)
             D: ceftazidime + Inhibitor-X (20)                                   H: cefotaxime + Inhibitor-X (15)

 

 

None of the commercially available inhibitors (clavulanic acid, sulbactam and tazobactam) showed synergistic effect with cefotaxime against MRSA, ATCC® 43300 (Data not shown). No inhibition zone was observed in the tested bacteria when Inhibitor-X was used alone (Fig.1H). MIC of the major antibiotics in combination with Inhibitor-X was significantly reduced (25 mg vs. 125 mg, ceftriaxone + Inhibitor-X vs. ceftriaxone). MIC of cefotaxime+ Inhibitor-X was significantly reduced compared to cefotaxime alone for ATCC 43300 (1 vs. 16, resp.). This indicates that using cefotaxime and the Inhibitor-X shifted the bacterial sensitivity from intermediate sensitivity to susceptible level according to CLSI guidelines. The inhibitory effect of Inhibitor-X was more prominent on Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213) than (ATCC 25923) (Table 1).

No cytotoxic effect was observed for our concentration in use of Inhibitor-X evaluated by mouse embryo assay (86% blastocyst development, n=120). 

Animal studies: Preliminary animal studies are ongoing.

Discussion: Present data show the synergistic effect of Inhibitor-X in combination with many of the β-Lactam antibiotics against most of the very well-known infectious multi-drug resistant bacteria. Moreover, due to possible administration of low dose of the antibiotics, the side effects might also be reduced consequently.

Our data demonstrated the great capability of Inhibitor-X acting against extended-spectrum β- lactamases which is the main mechanism that some bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae develop resistance to the antibiotics.

We do believe that our product has unique commercial value to develop new drugs to combat against resistant bacteria in a very cost effective and timely manner. This will save life of many people worldwide and will have also enormous impact on saving the costs of health care. Very similar advantage is expected from farm animal health which also have impact on human health.

Scroll to Top