Alternatives to antibiotics

Od sredine dvajsetega stoletja bakterijske infekcije pri ljudeh in živalih zdravimo z antibiotiki. Njihova uporaba je bistveno izboljšala kakovost in dolžino življenja. Zvečana uporaba antibiotikov pa je tudi povzročila razvoj številnih bakterijskih sevov odpornih proti antibiotikom. Vedno več je »super« bakterij, ki so odporne proti večini ali vsem v kliniki uporabljenim antibiotikom. Posledično je Svetovna zdravstvena organizacija razglasila odpornost proti antibiotikom za eno izmed treh največjih groženj človeštvu. Porast odpornosti proti antibiotikom je prinesla težnjo po razvoju učinkovin z novim načinom protibakterijskega delovanja, razvoju novih pristopov, s katerimi bi obvladovali super bakterije. Med alternative antibiotikom uvrščamo antimikrobne peptide, cepiva, probiotike, protitelesa, bakteriofage, molekule, ki stimulirajo imunski sistem gostitelja in še nekatere druge pristope. V teku so klinična testiranja alternativnih protibakterijskih učinkovin, vendar do sedaj večini kandidatov (z izjemo nekaterih probiotikov in protiteles) še ni uspelo preiti na trg. V svojem delu bom predstavila osrčje problema, mehanizme razvoja odpornosti proti antibiotikom pri bakterijah, in trenutno najbolj obetajoče alternative antibiotikom.From the middle of the 20th century antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infection in humans and animals, which led to significant improvement of the quality of our lives. Together with the elevated use of antibiotics, bacteria developed resistance to the most established antibiotics. Thus, the so called »superbacteria« emerged, which carry resistance genes against most or all antibiotics currently used in clinics. As a consequence, the World health organization announced the resistance to antibiotics as one of the biggest threat to the humankind. Thus, novel antimicrobials and ways to treat bacterial infections are urgently needed. Few alternatives are being studied and put into clinical trials for instance: antimicrobial peptides, vaccines, probiotics, antibodies, bacteriophages, molecules stimulating the host immune system and many others. Several alternative novel antibacterials are currently being tested in clinical trials, however so far just few alternatives to antibiotics are commercially available. In the diploma thesis I present the mechanisms that lead to antibiotic resistance development basic among bacteria and the most promising alternatives to antibiotics