Beta-lactamase inhibitors and reversal of antibiotic resistance.
The resistance of bacteria to beta-lactam antibiotics is usually associated with production of the enzyme, beta-lactamase, which inactivates the beta-lactam molecule. In the long search for inhibitors of bacterial beta-lactamase the first clinically useful agent, clavulanic acid, was isolated as a metabolite of Streptomyces clavuligerus. Robert Sutherland describes the background to the demonstration of clinical efficacy of combinations of clavulanic acid and other agents with penicillins which has confirmed beta-lactamase inhibitors as one solution to the problems posed by beta-lactamase-producing bacteria.
Sutherland
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Anti-infectives Product Support Unit, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Betchworth, Surrey, UK.
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D065093:beta-Lactamase Inhibitors; D047090:beta-Lactams
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D065093:beta-Lactamase Inhibitors; D047090:beta-Lactams