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Spiropiperidyl rifabutins: expanded in vitro testing against ESKAPE pathogens and select bacterial biofilms

Abstract

The expanded microbiological evaluation of a series of rifastures, novel spiropiperidyl rifamycin derivatives, against clinically relevant ESKAPE bacteria has identified several analogs with promising in vitro bioactivities against antibiotic-resistant strains of Enterococcus faecium and Staphylococcus aureus. Thirteen of the rifastures displayed minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) below 1 µg/ml against the methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant forms of S. aureus and E. faecium (MRSA, VRSA, VRE). Aryl-substituted rifastures 1, 11, and 12 offered the greatest bioactivity, with MICs reaching ≤0.063 µg ml−1 for these human pathogens. Further analysis indicates that diphenyl rifasture 1 had greater antibiofilm activity against S. aureus and lower cytotoxicity in mammalian HEK cells than rifabutin.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support by Asturpharma S.A. and the projects PC-CIS01-22 (FICYT) and PR-01-GE-9 (Grupo de Excelencia FICYT) from the Consejería de Educación y Cultura del Principado de Asturias, and by Banco de Santander-Universidad de Oviedo (CEI “Ad Futurum” 10.01.633B.481.60) is gratefully acknowledged. This work was also supported in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health under award numbers AI151970 (T.E.L) and AI124458 (L.N.S.).

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Correspondence to Marıa-Paz Cabal.

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Cabal, MP., Long, T.E., Turos, E. et al. Spiropiperidyl rifabutins: expanded in vitro testing against ESKAPE pathogens and select bacterial biofilms. J Antibiot 73, 868–872 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-020-0346-x

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