The Biology and Future Prospects of Antivirulence Therapies

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Microbiol

Specialties Infectious Diseases
Microbiology

Date 2007 Dec 15

PMID 18079741

Citations 335

Authors

Lynette Cegelski

Garland R Marshall

Gary R Eldridge

Scott J Hultgren

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The emergence and increasing prevalence of bacterial strains that are resistant to available antibiotics demand the discovery of new therapeutic approaches. Targeting bacterial virulence is an alternative approach to antimicrobial therapy that offers promising opportunities to inhibit pathogenesis and its consequences without placing immediate life-or-death pressure on the target bacterium. Certain virulence factors have been shown to be potential targets for drug design and therapeutic intervention, whereas new insights are crucial for exploiting others. Targeting virulence represents a new paradigm to empower the clinician to prevent and treat infectious diseases.

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