In Vitro and In Vivo Antibacterial Activity of Gliotoxin Alone and in Combination with Antibiotics against Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Multidrug-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA) is one of the major causes of hospital-acquired and community infections and pose a challenge to the human health care system. Therefore, it is important to find new drugs that show activity against these bacteria, both in monotherapy and in combination with other antimicrobial drugs. Gliotoxin (GT) is a mycotoxin produced by <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> and other fungi of the <i>Aspergillus</i> genus. Some evidence suggests that GT shows antimicrobial activity against <i>S. aureus</i> in vitro, albeit its efficacy against multidrug-resistant strains such asMRSA or vancomycin-intermediate <i>S. aureus</i> (VISA) strainsis not known. This work aimedto evaluate the antibiotic efficacy of GT as monotherapy or in combination with other therapeutics against MRSA in vitro and in vivo using a <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> infection model.