New approaches towards the identification of antibiotic and vaccine targets in Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Streptococcus pneumoniae causes more than one million deaths every year, mostly of young children in developing countries, due to pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis. The emergence and dissemination of drug-resistant pneumococcal strains, coupled to changing patterns of virulence and the inadequacy of available vaccines, calls for an aggressive search for novel targets for antibiotic and vaccine development. Microbial genomics techniques allow genetic and biochemical tools to be employed to tackle discovery, design and development of new anti-infective agents based on the identification of hundreds of new targets. In this review, novel approaches employed to identify potential antibiotic and vaccine targets in S. pneumoniae are highlighted. Recently identified virulence factors, as well as molecules essential for bacterial viability, cell wall integrity and infectivity, are discussed.
Di Guilmi
Anne Marie
AM
Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Macromolécules, Institut de Biologie Structurale Jean-Pierre Ebel (CNRS/CEA/UJF), Grenoble, France.
Dessen
Andréa
A
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002473:Cell Wall; D015195:Drug Design; D004351:Drug Resistance; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D016296:Mutagenesis; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014612:Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D014612:Vaccines