1. Academic Validation
  2. Bactericidal and anti-quorum sensing activity of repurposing drug Visomitin against Staphylococcus aureus

Bactericidal and anti-quorum sensing activity of repurposing drug Visomitin against Staphylococcus aureus

  • Virulence. 2024 Dec;15(1):2415952. doi: 10.1080/21505594.2024.2415952.
Ruolan Wu 1 Yuan Wu 1 Pingyun Wu 1 Huilong Li 1 Pengfei She 1
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
Abstract

With the growing Antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus, it is imperative to develop innovative therapeutic strategies against new targets to reduce selective survival pressures and incidence of resistance. In S. aureus, interbacterial communication relies on a quorum sensing system that regulates gene expression and physiological activities. Here, we identified that Visomitin, an antioxidant small molecule, exhibited bactericidal efficacy against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and its high tolerance phenotypes like intracellular bacteria and persister cells without inducing resistance. Critically, sub-minimal inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) of Visomitin could serve as a potent quorum-quencher reducing virulence production (such as haemolysin and staphyloxanthin), along with inhibiting biofilm formation, self-aggregation, and colony spreading of S. aureus. These effects were probably mediated by interfering with the S. aureus accessory gene regulator quorum sensing system. In summary, our findings suggest that Visomitin shows dual antimicrobial effects, including bactericidal effects at the concentrations above MIC and quorum sensing inhibition effects at sub-MICs, which holds promise for treating MRSA-related refractory infections.

Keywords

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Visomitin; antimicrobial; biofilm; haemolysis; quorum sensing.

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