The European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), which took place online from 9-12 July, presented new research that identifies drugs that could be repurposed to treat gonorrhoea [Neisseria gonorrhoeae]). This is a sexually transmitted disease that is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.As cases of this common infection get more severe, the Ng bacteria has been less able to resist extended-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotics.Dr Liliana Rodrigues and her colleagues at Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal used computer analysis to determine whether candidate drugs would interact with Ng bacterium proteins involved in energy metabolism and removal of toxic substances.Eflux pumps, which are protein-based structures embedded in cells, can be targeted to increase the effectiveness of antimicrobial medications. They act to remove toxic substances that could cause damage to the structure or function of the cell. These pumps are critical for bacterial survival. They remove antimicrobial compounds from cells, making treatment less effective. These drugs could target specific proteins within efflux pumps to inhibit them. When combined with existing antimicrobials, they could increase the concentration of these medications in the bacterial cells.The development of any new drug can be expensive and time-consuming. It is better to look at existing compounds that have been approved for clinical trials for other diseases. This will allow you to identify efflux inhibitors which could be potentially repurposed.Based on the team's analysis, 100 Ng drug targets were predicted to exist. These targets were also associated with 680 approved drugs. This was further reduced to 30 potential targets and only 57 drug candidates after a more detailed analysis of the results. These include dequalinium, doxorubicin, metformin (used to treat diabetes), metformin (used as a cancer chemotherapy drug), and thiabendazole. These medications already approved target a multidrug efflux proteins, as well as the enzymes NADH, flavoprotein ubiquinone oxide oxidoreductase and succinate dehydrogenase.The authors conclude that the drugs identified are approved for a wide range of indications including epilepsy, diabetes, and cancer. They may also serve as lead compounds in the development of new drugs to combat gonorrhoea. This research could provide a new framework for the development of new drugs and therapeutic strategies that can be used to treat gonorrhoea.###
