Antibiotics increase positive selection for drug-resistant mutants; hence, a benefit of agents that do not directly target the pathogen is evident. Secreted bacterial toxins play an important role in the fitness of pathogenic bacteria. Recently, we have developed toxin-neutralizing liposomal nanotraps that disarm Gram-positive bacterial pathogens such as Streptococcus and Staphylococcus.
Here we will develop anti-toxin therapy targeting Gram-negative enteric pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Vibrio cholera and Clostridium difficile. In particular E. coli and C. jejuni elicit serious enterotoxicosis in humans and farm animals and are at the forefront of emerging antimicrobial resistance.
