Fighting bacterial resistance: approaches, challenges, and opportunities in the search for new antibiotics.Part 1. Antibiotics used in clinical practice: mechanisms of action and the development of bacterial resistance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Hundreds of thousands of people are dying every year in the world from infections caused by drug resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is a rapidly increasing problem mostly as a result of the worldwide overuse and misuse of antibiotics for conditions that do not require them. The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria makes it necessary to intensify the development of new antibiotics and new methods to combat drug resistant bacteria. The goal of this publication is to review the approaches to finding new antibiotics that are active against drug resistant bacteria. The first part of this review is focused on an analysis of the mechanisms of action of antibiotics that are used in clinical practice as well as the mechanisms of bacterial resistance. The molecular structure and modes of action of these antibiotics are reviewed with examples of detailed mechanisms of drugs interaction with the targets in bacteria. General and specific mechanisms of bacterial resistance to these antibiotics are described. Examples of new antibiotics development active against the drug resistant bacteria are presented.