Research

Life Sciences & Biotechnology

Title :

Evaluation of MexB-specific efflux pump inhibitors against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its reverberations on quorum sensing

Area of research :

Life Sciences & Biotechnology

Principal Investigator :

Dr. Vinothkannan Ravichandran, Amity University, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Timeline Start Year :

2022

Timeline End Year :

2024

Contact info :

Equipments :

Details

Executive Summary :

Drug-resistant infections kill roughly 700,000 people per year worldwide and it is projected that it could raise up to 10 million deaths per year by 2050 (Trotter et al., 2019). The misuse and overuse of current antimicrobial agents in humans, animals and plants causing the development of multi drug resistance in pathogens (Gupta and Singhal, 2018). Pseudomonas aeruginosa a gram-negative bacterium and common cause of pneumonia and infections especially in bloodstream, urinary tract and surgical-sites & burn wounds and plays a vital roles in cystic fibrosis. P. aeruginosa was reported to be resistant to almost all antibiotics, including aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and carbapenems (Pang et al., 2018) and hence placed in priority level 1 (critical) in the WHO priority list for research and development of new antibiotics and in Indian priority pathogen list as well (Tacconelli et al., 2018). Hence it is very crucial to discover an antibiotic or an adjuvant to overcome these superbugs. Combination therapy would be advantageous for limiting the MDR P. aeruginosa that could reestablish the susceptibility to numerous antibiotics. A few efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) including phenylalanyl arginyl β-naphthylamide (PAβN) have been reported to enhance antibiotic activity against antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (Venter et al., 2015). Here in this study, PIs would like to identify and evaluate EPIs from natural products using various in vitro and assays. Further we would like study the effects of EPIs on quorum sensing exclusively and to establish interlink between quorum sensing and efflux pumps using qRT-PCR studies.

Total Budget (INR):

28,54,000

Organizations involved