title: Role of chemotherapeutic antagonism in opportunistic infections.
abstract: The most widely-known anti-tumor drugs often induce marked immunosuppression which can give rise to one or more sepses. Anti-infection measures immediately applied can sometimes prove largely ineffective or even useless, the patient dying not as a result of the spread of the tumour but as a direct consequence of opportunistic infection. We postulate that antagonism between anti-tumour and antimicrobial drugs may also play an important part in this. By way of illustration of this hypothesis, we have studied the action of a number of known inhibitors of peptidoglycan synthesis and of DNA-gyrases on certain strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms cultured in medium containing various concentrations of some of the best-known anti-tumour antimetabolites. The experimental data show that antimicrobial and anti-tumour drugs can sometimes induce synergic or indifferent chemotherapeutic interactions with many bacteria, while in others the effect is antagonistic. In practice, the action of the drugs could lead to bacterial selectivity, which, in conjunction with immunosuppression and the presence of resistant strains, could favour the evolution of opportunistic infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baggio
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Ruberto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malagoli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casolari
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Galatulas
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001398:Aztreonam / Q000494:pharmacology; D015377:Cilastatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D000077728:Cilastatin, Imipenem Drug Combination; D004336:Drug Antagonism; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000494:pharmacology; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D015378:Imipenem / Q000494:pharmacology; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000187:drug effects; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D017334:Teicoplanin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004338:Drug Combinations; D015377:Cilastatin; D017334:Teicoplanin; D015378:Imipenem; D000077728:Cilastatin, Imipenem Drug Combination; D001398:Aztreonam