Antibiotic-peptide conjugates as alternatives to conventional antibiotics for treating infections caused by hospital-associated ESKAPE pathogens: A systematic review.

An innovative method for treating antibiotic-resistant strains of hospital-associated ESKAPE pathogens (including Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and species of Enterobacter), which shows promise as an alternative to traditional antibiotics, involves the development of antibiotic-peptide conjugates (APCs). This systematic review evaluates existing research on the potential of APCs for combating ESKAPE bacteria. Relevant studies from PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were collected, filtered for inclusion, and relevant data were extracted using pre-designed tables, including authorship, study type, and assay results. After screening 6934 records, 16 original studies were selected for detailed analysis. Most in vitro studies assessed the minimum inhibitory concentrations to evaluate the antibacterial effectiveness of APCs, which showed better results than traditional antibiotics in 48 instances, while in 41 cases no significant advantages was observed. Additionally, animal model studies confirmed the effectiveness of APCs. The findings indicate that while APCs can serve as promising alternatives to antibiotics, further research is needed to optimize their design and effectiveness against resistant ESKAPE bacteria.