They discover that a cancer drug is effective against a multidrug-resistant bacteria

An international team led by Younes Smani, a researcher at the Spanish Andalusian Center for Development Biology, has identified and validated a compound called ‘ENOblock’, which is used as an anticancer treatment, as a new class of antibiotics aimed at multidrug-resistant bacteria. In a statement, the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville (south) reported on the progress made by the team led by this professor from the area of Microbiology, with the work of the mixed center of the University itself, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the government of the region of Andalusia. The compound, known to inhibit the enzyme called enolase, shows antibacterial activity and synergy with colistin —a last-resort antibiotic— in preclinical models of infection by Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterium involved in various types of infections, most of them nosocomial, such as septicemia, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, meningitis, and even endocarditis.

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The work, published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, indicates that the World Health Organization places Acinetobacter baumannii and certain “Enterobacterales” bacteria in the critical category of its 2024 Priority Pathogens List, which underlines the need for new therapeutic options and combinations that restore the effectiveness of existing drugs, such as colistin. In the study, the team has managed to identify seven compounds with antibacterial activity, including ENOblock, an anticancer drug that showed high antibiotic potential against multidrug-resistant strains of these bacteria by targeting bacterial enolase and acting effectively. Enolase is an essential enzyme in glycolysis, the pathway that transforms glucose into energy. By affecting its energy system, blocking enolase weakens the bacteria and makes it more vulnerable to antibiotics, so it has great potential as a therapeutic target. The study involved the participation of Laura Tomás Gallardo (Proteomic and Biochemical Platform, CABD); Sanja Glisic (University of Belgrade); Poochit Nonejuie (Mahidol University, Thailand); Olga Genilloud (MEDINA Foundation) and other collaborators, with the support of EU-OPENSCREEN —European Research Infrastructure (ERIC) dedicated to drug discovery and biological chemistry— and European networks such as EURESTOP, specialized in the diagnosis and development of therapies against multidrug-resistant bacteria.