Vol.67 No.3 May 2019
Identification of novel antibiotics using a silkworm model
Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, 359 Otsuka, Hachio-ji, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
Development of novel antibiotics is desirable to combat antimicrobial resistance. Due to the availability of only a limited number of antifungal agents for clinical use, the clinical demand of antifungal agents has not yet been met. However, very few novel antimicrobials with novel mechanisms of action are in the development pipeline. Therefore, a new screening system to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of candidate samples is desirable to identify novel therapeutic antibiotics. For this purpose, we established a system for evaluation of the therapeutic effectiveness of antibiotics using silkworm infected with bacteria or fungi. We have now successfully identified a few antibiotics with novel structures and new mechanisms of action using a silkworm model for screening candidate compounds. In this review, I shall introduce the merits of the silkworm model and our achievements in the area of development of antibiotics.
Key word
antibiotics, antifungal agent, MRSA, pharmacodynamics
Received
September 1, 2018
Accepted
December 10, 2018
Jpn. J. Chemother. 67 (3): 331-337, 2019
