Muhammad Jibran Sualeh, Khan Naveed Ahmed, Maciver Sutherland K, Alharbi Ahmad M, Alfahemi Hasan, Siddiqui Ruqaiyyah
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, Edinburgh Medical School-Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, Scotland, UK.
Antibiotics (Basel). 2022 Jun 16;11(6):809. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11060809.
Since the discovery of antibiotics, humans have been benefiting from them by decreasing the morbidity and mortality associated with bacterial infections. However, in the past few decades, misuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of bacterial infections resistant to multiple drugs, a significant health concern. Bacteria exposed to inappropriate levels of antibiotics lead to several genetic changes, enabling them to survive in the host and become more resistant. Despite the understanding and targeting of genetic-based biochemical changes in the bacteria, the increasing levels of antibiotic resistance are not under control. Many reports hint at the role of epigenetic modifications in the bacterial genome and host epigenetic reprogramming due to interaction with resistant pathogens. Epigenetic changes, such as the DNA-methylation-based regulation of bacterial mutation rates or bacteria-induced histone modification in human epithelial cells, facilitate its long-term survival. In this review article, epigenetic changes leading to the development of antibiotic resistance in clinically relevant bacteria are discussed. Additionally, recent lines of evidence focusing on human host epigenetic changes due to the human-pathogen interactions are presented. As genetic mechanisms cannot explain the transient nature of antimicrobial resistance, we believe that epigenetics may provide new frontiers in antimicrobial discovery.
自抗生素被发现以来,人类一直通过降低与细菌感染相关的发病率和死亡率而从中受益。然而,在过去几十年里,抗生素的滥用导致了对多种药物耐药的细菌感染的出现,这是一个重大的健康问题。接触不适当水平抗生素的细菌会导致多种基因变化,使其能够在宿主体内存活并产生更强的耐药性。尽管人们对细菌中基于基因的生化变化有所了解并进行了针对性研究,但抗生素耐药性水平仍在不断上升且未得到控制。许多报告暗示了表观遗传修饰在细菌基因组中的作用以及由于与耐药病原体相互作用导致的宿主表观遗传重编程。表观遗传变化,如基于DNA甲基化对细菌突变率的调控或细菌诱导的人类上皮细胞组蛋白修饰,有助于其长期存活。在这篇综述文章中,我们讨论了导致临床相关细菌产生抗生素耐药性的表观遗传变化。此外,还介绍了近期关注人类病原体相互作用导致人类宿主表观遗传变化的一系列证据。由于遗传机制无法解释抗菌药物耐药性的短暂性,我们认为表观遗传学可能为抗菌药物发现提供新的前沿领域。