ABSTRACT:
Acinetobacter baumannii causes high mortality in ventilator-associated pneumonia patients, and antibiotic treatment is compromised by multidrug-resistant strains resistant to b-lactams, carbapenems, cephalosporins, polymyxins, and tetracy- clines. Among COVID-19 patients receiving ventilator support, a multidrug-resistant A. baumannii secondary infection is associated with a 2-fold increase in mortality. Here, we investigated the use of the 8-hydroxyquinoline ionophore PBT2 to break the resist- ance of A. baumannii to tetracycline class antibiotics. In vitro, the combination of PBT2 and zinc with either tetracycline, doxycycline, or tigecycline was shown to be bactericidal against multidrug-resistant A. baumannii, and any resistance that did arise imposed a !tness cost. PBT2 and zinc disrupted metal ion homeostasis in A. baumannii, increasing cellular zinc and copper while decreasing magnesium accumulation. Using a murine model of pulmonary infection, treatment with PBT2 in combination with tetracycline or tigecycline proved ef!cacious against multi- drug-resistant A. baumannii. These !ndings suggest that PBT2 may !nd utility as a resistance breaker to rescue the ef!cacy of tetracycline-class antibiotics com- monly employed to treat multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections.
