Targeted Nitroxoline Delivery for Treatment of Multidrug-resistant Pathogens (TANDEM)

不能再用药物控制或杀死的细菌和其他致病生物被称为多药耐药生物(MDRO)。MDRO对医疗保健系统构成重大问题，因为它们可能导致严重感染，并影响最虚弱的人，特别是幼儿、老年人或患有慢性肺病、心脏病和肾脏疾病等健康状况的人。在欧洲，MDRO每年造成约67万人感染。由于缺乏治疗选择，33,000名患者无法在感染中存活。我们的目标是开发一种亟需的新策略来治疗MDRO。为此，我们设计了一种“氮杂环己烷穿梭车”。Nitroxoline是一种抗生素药物，可以有效地杀死多种细菌；然而，由于它无法到达人体其他部位，它的使用仅限于膀胱感染。这种“航天飞机”是一种化学物质，当它与氮杂酚相连时，将允许将这种强大的抗生素安全地输送到人体不同部位的细菌中。在该项目中，我们将制造“氮杂酚航天飞机”，并进行测试，以表征其有针对性地杀灭细菌的能力。

Bacteria and other disease-causing organisms that can no longer be controlled or killed with medicines are called multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). MDROs pose a major problem to the healthcare system as they can cause severe infections and affect the weakest, in particular young children, the elderly or people with health conditions such as chronic lung, heart, and kidney disease. In Europe, MDROs cause approximately 670,000 infections per year. 33,000 patients do not survive the infection due to the lack of treatment options.Our aim is to develop a much-needed new strategy for the treatment of MDROs. To this end, we have designed a 'nitroxoline shuttle'. Nitroxoline is an antibiotic drug that effectively kills a broad variety of bacteria; however, its use is limited to bladder infections due to its inability of reaching other parts of the human body. The 'shuttle' is a chemical substance that, when linked to nitroxoline, will allow to safely transport this powerful antibiotic to bacteria in various parts of the human body. In the project, we will manufacture the 'nitroxoline shuttle' and carry out tests to characterise its ability to kill bacteria in a targeted manner.