Investigates how epigallocatechin gallate enhances antibiotic effectiveness against MRSA, suggesting new treatment options.
Background Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the major cause of nosocomial infections. Most MRSA strains are resistant not only to β-lactam antibiotics but also to multiple antimicrobial agents. New therapeutic agents or new approaches are urgently needed for multiple antimicrobial resistant bacteria such as MRSA. Objective It has been reported that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) sensitizes MRSA to β-lactam antibiotics. Based on this observation, we investigated whether EGCg would be able to enhance the antimicrobial activity of β-lactam antibiotics against various microorganisms, and also the appearance frequency of escape mutants of MRSA due to the combination of EGCg with β-lactam antibiotics. Methods The enhancement effects of the antimicrobial activities of antibiotics in combination with EGCg were tested by using a standard MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) assay. The proliferation and appearance of escape mutants of MRSA due to the combination of EGCg with antibiotics were investigated for a 3 -day cultivation period on the surface of agar plates. Results Antimicrobial activity of β-lactam antibiotics against MRSA was obviously enhanced by the combination with EGCg. However, the enhancement effect of EGCg was demonstrated to have high specificity to β-lactam antibiotics and to S. aureus. The proliferation and appearance of escape mutants of MRSA due to the combination were not observed completely for 3 days. Conclusion The combined EGCg/β-lactam antibiotics is expected to be a new therapeutic method which possesses high safety and stable effectiveness against infectious diseases caused by MRSA.
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Horie et al. (2009) studied this question.
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