Aung Thet Tun, Yam Joey Kuok Hoong, Lin Shuimu, Salleh Shuhaida Mohamed, Givskov Michael, Liu Shouping, Lwin Nyein Chan, Yang Liang, Beuerman Roger W
Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015 Oct 12;60(1):24-35. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01509-15. Print 2016 Jan.
Microbial infections of the cornea are potentially devastating and can result in permanent visual loss or require vision-rescuing surgery. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of reports on nontuberculous mycobacterial infections of the cornea. Challenges to the management of nontuberculous mycobacterial keratitis include delayed laboratory detection, low index of clinical suspicion, poor drug penetration, slow response to therapy, and prolonged use of antibiotic combinations. The ability of nontuberculous mycobacteria to evade the host immune response and the ability to adhere and to form biofilms on biological and synthetic substrates contribute to the issue. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new antimicrobial compounds that can overcome these problems. In this study, we evaluated the biofilm architectures for Mycobacterium chelonae and Mycobacterium fortuitum in dynamic flow cell chamber and 8-well chamber slide models. Our results showed that mycobacterial biofilms were quite resistant to conventional antibiotics. However, DNase treatment could be used to overcome biofilm resistance. Moreover, we successfully evaluated a new antimicrobial compound (AM-228) that was effective not only for planktonic mycobacterial cells but also for biofilm treatment and was compared favorably with the most successful "fourth-generation" fluoroquinolone, gatifloxacin. Finally, a new treatment strategy emerged: a combination of DNase with an antibiotic was more effective than an antibiotic alone.
角膜微生物感染具有潜在的破坏性,可能导致永久性视力丧失或需要进行挽救视力的手术。近年来,关于角膜非结核分枝杆菌感染的报道越来越多。非结核分枝杆菌角膜炎的治疗面临诸多挑战,包括实验室检测延迟、临床怀疑指数低、药物穿透力差、对治疗反应缓慢以及抗生素联合使用时间延长。非结核分枝杆菌逃避宿主免疫反应的能力以及在生物和合成基质上粘附并形成生物膜的能力加剧了这一问题。因此,迫切需要能够克服这些问题的新型抗菌化合物。在本研究中,我们在动态流动池室和8孔室载玻片模型中评估了龟分枝杆菌和偶然分枝杆菌的生物膜结构。我们的结果表明,分枝杆菌生物膜对传统抗生素具有相当强的抗性。然而,脱氧核糖核酸酶(DNase)处理可用于克服生物膜抗性。此外,我们成功评估了一种新型抗菌化合物(AM - 228),它不仅对浮游分枝杆菌细胞有效,而且对生物膜治疗也有效,并且与最成功的“第四代”氟喹诺酮类药物加替沙星相比具有优势。最后,出现了一种新的治疗策略:DNase与抗生素联合使用比单独使用抗生素更有效。