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Identification of Eltrombopag as a Repurposing Drug Against Staphylococcus epidermidis and its Biofilms

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Abstract

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a common cause of nosocomial infections, and readily adheres to medical apparatus to form biofilms consisting of highly resistant persister cells. Owing to the refractory infections caused by S. epidermidis biofilms and persisters in immunosuppressed patients, it is crucial to develop new antimicrobials. In the present study, we analyzed the antimicrobial effects of the thrombopoietin receptor agonist eltrombopag (EP) against S. epidermidis planktonic cells, biofilms, and persister cells. EP was significantly toxic to S. epidermidis with the minimal inhibitory concentration of 8 μg/ml, and effectively inhibited the biofilms and persisters in a strain-dependent manner. In addition, EP was only mildly toxic to mammalian cells after 12 to 24 h treatment. It also partially synergized with vancomycin against S. epidermidis, which enhanced its antimicrobial effects and reduced its toxicity to mammalian cells. Taken together, EP is a potential antibiotic for treating refractory infections caused by S. epidermidis.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2020JJ5877) and the Scientific Research Project of Hunan Health Committee (20201453).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Juan Zhu, Pengfei She, Canhui Peng & Yong Wu

  2. Department of Human Resources, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410013, People’s Republic of China

    Juhua Fu

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  1. Juan Zhu
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Contributions

Z.J. and S.P. preformed experiments. S.P. and W.Y. conceived, and designed experiments and contributed to the writing of the manuscript; F.J and P.C. performed experiments and software. S.P. and W.Y. edited final version of manuscript. Z.J. and W.Y. offered fund and administrated experiments.

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Correspondence to Pengfei She or Yong Wu.

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Zhu, J., She, P., Fu, J. et al. Identification of Eltrombopag as a Repurposing Drug Against Staphylococcus epidermidis and its Biofilms. Curr Microbiol 78, 1159–1167 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-021-02386-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-021-02386-z

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