Study reports drug that significantly reduces bacteria's ability to develop antibiotic resistance

A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine is gaining ground in their search for solutions to the global problem of bacterial antibiotic resistance, which was responsible for nearly 1.3 million deaths in 2019.

The team reports in the journal Science Advances a drug that, in laboratory cultures and animal models, significantly reduces the ability of bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance, which might prolong antibiotic effectiveness. The drug, called dequalinium chloride (DEQ), is a proof-of-concept for evolution-slowing drugs.

"Most people with bacterial infections get better after completing antibiotic treatment, but there are also many cases in which people decline because the bacteria develop resistance to the antibiotic, which then can no longer kill the bacteria," said corresponding author Dr. Susan M. Rosenberg.

In this study, Rosenberg and her colleagues looked for drugs that could prevent or slow down E. coli bacteria from developing resistance to two antibiotics when exposed to a third antibiotic, ciprofloxacin (cipro), the second most prescribed antibiotic in the U.S. and one associated with high bacterial resistance rates.

The resistance is caused by new gene mutations that occur in the bacteria during infection. The drug DEQ reduces the speed at which new mutations are formed in bacteria, the team finds.

Image source: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain.