Italian Centre for Global Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Italian Centre for Rare Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2018 May;101:929-937. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.02.140. Epub 2018 Mar 22.
Natural products may represent a rich source of new drugs. The enthusiasm toward this topic has recently been fueled by the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded for the discovery of avermectin and artemisinin, natural products from Bacteria and Plantae, respectively, which have targeted one of the major global health issues, the parasitic diseases. Specifically, bacteria either living in the environment or colonizing our body may produce compounds of unexpected biomedical value with the potentiality to be employed as therapeutic drugs. In this review, the fascinating history of CNF1, a protein toxin produced by pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, is divulged. Even if produced by bacteria responsible for a variety of diseases, CNF1 can behave as a promising benefactor to mankind. By modulating the Rho GTPases, this bacterial product plays a key role in organizing the actin cytoskeleton, enhancing synaptic plasticity and brain energy level, rescuing cognitive deficits, reducing glioma growth in experimental animals. These abilities strongly suggest the need to proceed with the studies on this odd drug in order to pave the way toward clinical trials.
天然产物可能是新药的丰富来源。这个话题的热情最近受到了 2015 年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖的推动，该奖项授予了分别来自细菌和植物的阿维菌素和青蒿素的发现，这两种天然产物针对的是寄生虫病这一主要全球健康问题之一。具体来说，生活在环境中或定植于我们体内的细菌可能会产生具有意外的生物医学价值的化合物，具有作为治疗药物的潜力。在这篇综述中，揭示了由致病性大肠杆菌菌株产生的蛋白毒素 CNF1 的迷人历史。即使由引起多种疾病的细菌产生，CNF1 也可以作为人类的一个有希望的恩人。通过调节 Rho GTPases，这种细菌产物在组织肌动蛋白细胞骨架、增强突触可塑性和大脑能量水平、挽救认知缺陷、减少实验动物的神经胶质瘤生长方面发挥着关键作用。这些能力强烈表明需要继续研究这种奇特的药物，为临床试验铺平道路。
