Grant-funded research studies antibiotic resistance in mixed infections
The project Molecular Mechanisms of Changing Antibiotic Susceptibility of Microorganisms in Mixed Fungal and Bacterial Communities as a Fundamental Basis for Antimicrobial Therapy of Mixed Infections by the Department of Genetics of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology of Kazan Federal University was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation.
Project lead, Head of the Department of Genetics Ayrat Kayumov, tells why it is so difficult to treat mixed infections and how Kazan University scientists will contribute to the creation of effective drugs to combat them.
“Most infectious diseases of humans and animals are in one way or another associated with the formation of biofilms – microbial consortia immersed in the high molecular weight matrix they secrete, consisting of proteins, nucleotides and polysaccharides. Microbial biofilms formed by pathogenic microflora are found in various niches of the human body and significantly complicate the treatment of infectious diseases, increasing the duration of their course,” comments the scientist.
According to Kayumov, microorganisms in this biofilm are protected from the human immune system. In addition, they become inaccessible to antimicrobial drugs and therefore insensitive to their action.
He explained why polymicrobial infections can be so difficult to treat.
“Demonstrated in vitro efficacy of certain antimicrobial drugs even against microbial biofilms does not always guarantee successful human treatment in clinical settings,” he continues. “First, not all laboratory models of biofilms reflect the natural conditions of their formation. Second, many biofilm disruption approaches are only applicable to external infections. Third, biofilms are often formed by more than one microbial species, and as a result, the patterns characteristic of a monoculture may not work or may even be opposite in the case of a multi-species community.”
Project participants will model mixed biofilms formed by pathogenic bacteria and fungi Candida albicans and elucidate the patterns of change in the sensitivity of these communities to antimicrobials.
This will help develop new clinical guidelines for the treatment of infections caused by several microorganisms, including those resistant to a number of antimicrobial drugs.
“The aim of the project,” says Airat Kayumov, “is to characterize changes in the structure of the biofilm matrix and its permeability to antimicrobial drugs of different classes and nature, and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of these changes. Understanding the physiological, biochemical and genetic processes occurring in mixed cultures is of fundamental interest for molecular microbiology and can serve as a basis for the search for new molecular targets for drugs.”
The findings will be of great value to clinicians. They will be able to select antibiotics for antimicrobial therapy depending on the composition of microbial contamination of the inflammation site.