Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for a number of human diseases, including skin and soft tissue infections. Annually, 292,000 hospitalizations in the US are due to S. aureus infections, of which 126,000 are related to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), resulting in 19,000 deaths. Enterococci are the leading cause of nosocomial bacteremia, surgical wound infections, and urinary tract infections. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) accounts for >25% of the enterococci hospital-acquired infections in the US. A novel structural lead, the oxadiazol class of antibiotics, has emerged from our work. The oxadiazol antibiotics show high in vitro potency against Gram-positive bacteria comparable to those of linezolid and superior to vancomycin (both considered gold standards) and show in vivo activity. In addition, the oxadiazols have activity against vancomycin- resistant MRSA and VRE, two organisms for which treatment options are extremely limited. The compounds in hand at this point are not highly water soluble and their pharmacokinetic properties are not optimized. This project proposes to optimize the initial lead discovery to come up with lead candidates with the correct mix of pharmacological activity, PK attributes, and safety profile, such that an oxadiazol drug candidate will be selected and advanced to preclinical development. We also propose a novel method for the identification and validation of the target(s) for the oxadiazol antibiotics in the proteome of S. aureus and put forth a whole genome method for investigation of the mechanism of resistance to this class of antibiotics. Infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria are an increasing unmet medical need. The drug of last resort, linezolid, is reserved for use in hard-to-treat methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). New treatments are urgently needed to combat the emergence of resistance to any antibiotic after introduction of the antibiotic to the clinic. Our group has developed a new oxadiazol class of antibiotics that shows activity against vancomycin-resistant MRSA and VRE comparable to linezolid. Our goal is to develop a new class of antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections.

Public Health Relevance

Infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria are an increasing unmet medical need. The drug of last resort, linezolid, is reserved for use in hard-to-treat methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). New treatments are urgently needed to combat the emergence of resistance to any antibiotic after introduction of the antibiotic to the clinic. Our group has developed a new oxadiazol class of antibiotics that shows activity against vancomycin-resistant MRSA and VRE comparable to linezolid. Our goal is to develop a new class of antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI090818-03
Application #
8288684
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1-LR-M (M1))
Program Officer
Xu, Zuoyu
Project Start
2010-07-15
Project End
2015-06-30
Budget Start
2012-07-01
Budget End
2013-06-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$1,016,761
Indirect Cost
$317,109
Name
University of Notre Dame
Department
Chemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
824910376
City
Notre Dame
State
IN
Country
United States
Zip Code
46556
Ceballos, Sara; Kim, Choon; Ding, Derong et al. (2018) Activities of Oxadiazole Antibacterials against Staphylococcus aureus and Other Gram-Positive Bacteria. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 62:
Wang, Huan; Hesek, Dusan; Lee, Mijoon et al. (2016) The Natural Product Essramycin and Three of Its Isomers Are Devoid of Antibacterial Activity. J Nat Prod 79:1219-22
Janardhanan, Jeshina; Chang, Mayland; Mobashery, Shahriar (2016) The oxadiazole antibacterials. Curr Opin Microbiol 33:13-17
Leemans, Erika; Mahasenan, Kiran V; Kumarasiri, Malika et al. (2016) Three-dimensional QSAR analysis and design of new 1,2,4-oxadiazole antibacterials. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 26:1011-1015
Acebrón, Iván; Chang, Mayland; Mobashery, Shahriar et al. (2015) The Allosteric Site for the Nascent Cell Wall in Penicillin-Binding Protein 2a: An Achilles' Heel of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Curr Med Chem 22:1678-86
Wang, Huan; Lee, Mijoon; Peng, Zhihong et al. (2015) Synthesis and evaluation of 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as antibacterial agents against Enterococcus faecium. J Med Chem 58:4194-203
Spink, Edward; Ding, Derong; Peng, Zhihong et al. (2015) Structure-activity relationship for the oxadiazole class of antibiotics. J Med Chem 58:1380-9
Gonzales, Patrick R; Pesesky, Mitchell W; Bouley, Renee et al. (2015) Synergistic, collaterally sensitive ?-lactam combinations suppress resistance in MRSA. Nat Chem Biol 11:855-61
Ding, Derong; Boudreau, Marc A; Leemans, Erika et al. (2015) Exploration of the structure-activity relationship of 1,2,4-oxadiazole antibiotics. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 25:4854-7
O'Daniel, Peter I; Peng, Zhihong; Pi, Hualiang et al. (2014) Discovery of a new class of non-?-lactam inhibitors of penicillin-binding proteins with Gram-positive antibacterial activity. J Am Chem Soc 136:3664-72

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