Collaterally Sensitive β-Lactam Drugs as an Effective Therapy against the Pre-Existing Methicillin Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA) Biofilms

oleh: Hamna Batool Hashmi, Muhammad Asad Farooq, Muhammad Hashim Khan, Abdulrahman Alshammari, Alanoud T. Aljasham, Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Nauman Rahim Khan, Irum Batool Hashmi, Muhammad Badar, Mohammad S. Mubarak

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-05-01

Deskripsi

Methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA) is among the leading causes of nosocomial infections and forms biofilms, which are difficult to eradicate because of their increasing resistance to antimicrobial agents. This is especially true for pre-existing biofilms. The current study focused on evaluating the efficacy of three β-lactam drugs, meropenem, piperacillin, and tazobactam, alone and in combination against the MRSA biofilms. When used individually, none of the drugs exhibited significant antibacterial activity against MRSA in a planktonic state. At the same time, the combination of meropenem, piperacillin, and tazobactam showed a 41.7 and 41.3% reduction in planktonic bacterial cell growth, respectively. These drugs were further assessed for biofilm inhibition and removal. The combination of meropenem, piperacillin, and tazobactam caused 44.3% biofilm inhibition, while the rest of the combinations did not show any significant effects. Results also revealed that piperacillin and tazobactam exhibited the best synergy against the pre-formed biofilm of MRSA, with 46% removal. However, adding meropenem to the piperacillin and tazobactam combination showed a slightly reduced activity towards the pre-formed biofilm of MRSA and removed 38.7% of it. Although the mechanism of synergism is not fully understood, our findings suggest that these three β-lactam drugs can be used in combination as very effective therapeutic agents for the treatment of pre-existing MRSA biofilms. The in vivo experiments on the antibiofilm activity of these drugs will pave the way for applying such synergistic combinations to clinics.