Predicting drug resistance evolution: insights from antimicrobial peptides and antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotic resistance constitutes one of the most pressing public health concerns. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of multicellular organisms are considered part of a solution to this problem, and AMPs produced by bacteria such as colistin are last-resort drugs. Importantly, AMPs differ from many antibiotics in their pharmacodynamic characteristics. Here we implement these differences within a theoretical framework to predict the evolution of resistance against AMPs and compare it to antibiotic resistance. Our analysis of resistance evolution finds that pharmacodynamic differences all combine to produce a much lower probability that resistance will evolve against AMPs. The finding can be generalized to all drugs with pharmacodynamics similar to AMPs. Pharmacodynamic concepts are familiar to

SUBMITTER: Yu G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5879628 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature