Experimental Approaches for the Treatment of Infectious Disease
Tuesday April 27, 2021
2:00 pm
-
3:30 pm
Eastern Time (ET)
View session on the EB Virtual Platform (EB registration required)
DDD
MP
TCP
Chair :
Ross Corriden
Merck
Ericka Anderson
University of California, San Diego
The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for development of novel anti-infective agents. Although academic researchers and the biopharmaceutical industry have quickly responded to develop candidate therapies to address COVID-19, an even larger infectious disease challenge remains largely unaddressed: antibiotic resistance. Each year in the US, 2.8 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant pathogens; 35,000 die as a result of such infections. The 2014 UK Government Review on Antimicrobial Resistance concluded that, without a dramatic change in our response, antimicrobial resistance will result in 300 million premature deaths and up to $10 trillion in loss to the global economy by 2050, exceeding cancer as a cause of human mortality. Particularly at risk are patients already more vulnerable to illness from viral lung infections such as COVID-19; in fact, the CDC estimates that 29%-55% of the deaths recorded during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic were caused by secondary bacterial pneumonia. Many major pharmaceutical companies have abandoned antibiotic R&D after judging it to be unprofitable, creating an innovation gap. Furthermore, because of frequent use of antibiotics for self-resolving issues, physician reliance on unnecessarily broad-spectrum regimes, widespread use of antibiotics in agricultural feed for growth promotion, and pure Darwinian evolution of bacteria, we face a dilemma where new anti-infective approaches are needed. This symposium highlights translational research efforts aimed at resolving this unmet medical need. Since initial submission for EB2020, this session has been adjusted with a renewed focus on respiratory tract infections.
Speakers
Lauren Bakaletz
- Ohio State University College of Medicine; Scioto Biosciences
Targeting the Biofilm Matrix for Disruption Results in Newly Released (NRel) Bacteria with Markedly Increased Sensitivity to Traditional Antibiotics that are Otherwise ineffective Against Biofilms
Antibody-mediated release of bacteria from biofilm residence into the surrounding milieu supports an approach to resolve otherwise difficult-to-treat biofilm-associated diseases. We show that the unique phenotype of the newly released (NRel) bacteria is dependent upon the specific mechanism of release from biofilm residence. The resulting NRel populations are significantly different from each other despite genetic identity, and each NRel population has a distinct, significantly increased susceptibility to antibiotic-mediated killing, which suggests the potential for this approach to mitigate overuse of antibiotics for treatment of these recalcitrant infections.
Liangfang Zhang
- University of California, San Diego
Biomimetic Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Infectious Diseases
The talk discusses the biological functionalization of polymeric nanoparticles with a layer of membrane coating derived from natural cells. He will focus on the use of these cell-mimicking nanoparticles for the treatment of bacterial and viral infections.
Lynette Cegelski
- Stanford University
Vancomycin Conjugates Yield Extraordinary New Activities Against Gram-positive and Gram-negative Bacteria
Talk description coming soon.
David Gonzalez
- University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and Pharmacy
Mortality Risk Profiling of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia by Multi-omic Serum Analysis Reveals
Early Predictive and Pathogenic Signatures
Multi-omic analysis of serum from patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia performed by Dr. Gonzalez’s team identified features with predictive value to determine disease mortality and guide treatment decisions.