Therapeutic Synergy Between Antibiotics and Pulmonary Toll-Like Receptor 5 Stimulation in Antibiotic-Sensitive or -Resistant Pneumonia

In conclusion, we demonstrated that the selective boosting of lung innate immunity is a conceptually advantageous approach for improving the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment and fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Introduction Pneumonia constitutes a major cause of death, morbidity and health resource use worldwide. The main causative agents identified in adult patients hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are viruses (in 27–30% of cases, the most common being rhinovirus, influenza and coronavirus) and bacteria (14–23% of cases, with a marked predominance of Streptococcus pneumoniae infections) (1–3). When faced with overt clinical signs of bacterial pneumonia, the standard of care is antibiotic treatment. The combination of a constant rise in antibiotic resistance in recent decades with a decline in the discovery of new drugs has led to an increase in treatment failure and mortality (4). In 2017, the World Health Organization's Global Action Plan highlighted the urgent need to control the emergence of antibiotic resistance (5). Given this context, a number of new anti-infectious treatment strategies are being developed. The modulation of innate immunity [by targeting immune receptors, such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs)] is a promising approach (6, 7). Indeed, innate immunity is highly conserved in evolution, and this system constitutes the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Moreover, innate immunit...
Source: Frontiers in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research