Editorial: Antibiotic potentiators against drug-resistant pathogens: Discovery, development and clinical applications.

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a natural evolutionary consequence induced by massive antibiotic usage. The significantly higher rate of AMR and its spread is largely attributed to the illicit use and management of antibiotics, their production, and residual disposal in the environment (Das et al., 2017). AMR-associated and -contributed deaths are expected to exceed 4.5 million in 2023 due to the global spread of AMR in clinically important pathogens (Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators, 2022). In addition, the issue of AMR is also plaguing the management of other clinical conditions such as organ transplantation, microbiome transplantation, and inflammation management in chronic metabolic diseases leading to poor success rates. To tackle the AMR crisis and identify novel antibiotics or alternatives to antibiotics, several global initiatives are at different stages of completion (Narendrakumar et al., 2022). The current special issue covers updated research initiatives expanding the toolset against AMR pathogens by including (i) repurposed, already approved, drugs normally used for the treatment of non-infectious diseases; (ii) antibiotic potentiators that are not antibacterials, but rather block the resistance functions or increase membrane permeability, thus enhance antibiotics' activity; (iii) synergistic combinations of antibiotics; (iv) alternative therapies to minimize antibiotic uses.