Scientists at King’s College London have developed a novel approach to designing antibiotics that could help treat drug-resistant infections. The method, described in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, focuses on overcoming bacterial efflux pumps, which are molecular mechanisms that expel antibiotics from bacterial cells before they can reach lethal concentrations.
Antibiotic resistance is a major global health threat, causing approximately 1.27 million deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization. The UK Health Security Agency has noted that resistance increased in over 40% of monitored bacteria and antibiotic combinations between 2018 and 2023.
The new strategy, termed “Efflux Resistance Breaker” (ERB), involves chemically redesigning antibiotics so they are less easily removed by efflux pumps. This allows the drugs to accumulate inside bacteria at higher concentrations, restoring their effectiveness even against resistant strains.
Professor Khondaker Miraz Rahman, who led the study, stated: “Our work shows that we can redesign antibiotics so they stay inside bacterial cells at higher concentrations and overcome resistance mechanisms.” Professor J. Mark Sutton from the UK Health Security Agency added: “By building efflux resistance directly into the antibiotic, we may be able to restore activity against bacteria that are no longer controlled by current drugs.”
The research team now aims to apply this strategy to develop new treatments for drug-resistant infections, potentially reviving existing antibiotic classes that have lost efficacy.
