Overcoming reduced antibiotic susceptibility in intracellular Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium using AR-12

The antimicrobial activity of innate host-directed therapies: A systematic review

Intracellular human pathogens are the deadliest infectious diseases and are difficult to treat effectively due to their protection inside the host cell and the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). An emerging approach to combat these intracellular pathogens is host-directed therapies (HDT), which harness the innate immunity of host cells. HDT rely on small molecules to promote host protection mechanisms that ultimately lead to pathogen clearance. These therapies are hypothesized to: (1) possess indirect yet broad, cross-species antimicrobial activity, (2) effectively target drug-resistant pathogens, (3) carry a reduced susceptibility to the development of AMR and (4) have synergistic action with conventional antimicrobials. As the field of HDT expands, this systematic review was conducted to collect a compendium of HDT and their characteristics, such as the host mechanisms affected, the pathogen inhibited, the concentrations investigated and the magnitude of pathogen inhibition. The evidential support for the main four HDT hypotheses was assessed and concluded that HDT demonstrate robust cross-species activity, are active against AMR pathogens, clinical isolates and laboratory-adapted pathogens. However, limited information exists to support the notion that HDT are synergistic with canonical antimicrobials and are less predisposed to AMR development.

Drug delivery as a sustainable avenue to future therapies

Climate change and the need for sustainable, technological developments are the greatest challenges facing humanity in the coming decades. To address these issues, in 2015 the United Nations have established 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Anthropogenic climate change will not only affect everyone personally in the coming years, it will also reinforce the need to become more sustainable within drug delivery research. In 2021, I was appointed professor for pharmaceutical biology at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg. Our research is at the interface between developing biogenic therapies and understanding of bacterial infections. In this contribution to the Orations - New Horizons of the Journal of Controlled Release, I would like to underline the need for future sustainable approaches in our research area, by highlighting selected examples from the fields of infection research, natural product characterisation and extracellular vesicles. My aim is to put into perspective current issues for these research topics, but also encourage our current student-training framework to contribute to education for sustainable development. This contribution is a personal statement to increase the overall awareness for sustainability challenges in drug delivery and beyond.