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Reactive oxygen therapy: a novel antimicrobial.
Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2017 Sep 05;:
Authors: Dryden M
Abstract
The main solution to the global antibiotic resistance crisis is reducing the volume of antibiotic use in medicine, agriculture and the environment. However there is also a pressing need for novel antimicrobials. Despite much rhetoric, there are few entirely novel agents in development. One such therapy to reach clinical use is an agent using Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), oxygen radicals, as an antimicrobial mechanism. ROS can be delivered to the site of infection in various formats. ROS is highly antimicrobial against Gram positive and negative bacteria, viruses and fungi. It prevents and breaks down biofilm. These functions make ROS potentially highly suitable for chronic inflammatory conditions, where antibiotics are frequently overused and relatively ineffective: chronic wounds, ulcers and burns; chronic rhinosinusitis, chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, ventilated airways; recurrent cystitis; and prosthetic device infection. ROS could have an important role in infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship. Much clinical investigation remains to be delivered on ROS therapy but in vitro work on infection models and early clinical evaluations are extremely promising.
PMID: 28887201 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]