Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Nat Microbiol. 2019 Apr;4(4):565-577. doi: 10.1038/s41564-019-0357-1. Epub 2019 Mar 4.
Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a public threat on a global scale. The ongoing need to develop new antimicrobial drugs that are effective against multi-drug-resistant pathogens has spurred the research community to invest in various drug discovery strategies, one of which is drug repurposing-the process of finding new uses for existing drugs. While still nascent in the antimicrobial field, the approach is gaining traction in both the public and private sector. While the approach has particular promise in fast-tracking compounds into clinical studies, it nevertheless has substantial obstacles to success. This Review covers the art of repurposing existing drugs for antimicrobial purposes. We discuss enabling screening platforms for antimicrobial discovery and present encouraging findings of novel antimicrobial therapeutic strategies. Also covered are general advantages of repurposing over de novo drug development and challenges of the strategy, including scientific, intellectual property and regulatory issues.
抗菌药物耐药性仍然是一个全球性的公共卫生威胁。由于需要不断开发针对多药耐药病原体的新型抗菌药物，研究界投入了各种药物发现策略，其中之一是药物再利用，即将现有药物重新用于新用途的过程。尽管在抗菌药物领域仍处于起步阶段，但这种方法在公共和私营部门都越来越受到关注。虽然这种方法在将化合物快速推向临床研究方面具有特殊的前景，但它在成功方面仍然存在重大障碍。本文综述了将现有药物重新用于抗菌目的的艺术。我们讨论了用于抗菌药物发现的支持性筛选平台，并介绍了新的抗菌治疗策略的令人鼓舞的发现。本文还介绍了药物再利用相对于从头开发新药的一般优势，以及该策略面临的挑战，包括科学、知识产权和监管问题。
