In vitro bactericidal and bacteriolytic activity of ceragenin CSA-13 against planktonic cultures and biofilms of Streptococcus pneumoniae and other pathogenic streptococci

Miriam Moscoso; María Esteban-Torres; Margarita Menéndez; Ernesto García

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101037

In vitro bactericidal and bacteriolytic activity of ceragenin CSA-13 against planktonic cultures and biofilms of Streptococcus pneumoniae and other pathogenic streptococci

PLoS One. 2014 Jul 9;9(7):e101037. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101037. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Miriam Moscoso¹, María Esteban-Torres¹, Margarita Menéndez², Ernesto García¹

Affiliations

¹ Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC, Madrid, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Mallorca, Illes Balears, Spain.
² Departamento de Química-Física Biológica, Instituto Química-Física Rocasolano, CSIC, Madrid, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Mallorca, Illes Balears, Spain.

Abstract

Ceragenin CSA-13, a cationic steroid, is here reported to show a concentration-dependent bactericidal/bacteriolytic activity against pathogenic streptococci, including multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. The autolysis promoted by CSA-13 in pneumococcal cultures appears to be due to the triggering of the major S. pneumoniae autolysin LytA, an N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase. CSA-13 also disintegrated pneumococcal biofilms in a very efficient manner, although at concentrations slightly higher than those required for bactericidal activity on planktonic bacteria. CSA-13 has little hemolytic activity which should allow testing its antibacterial efficacy in animal models.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
Biofilms / drug effects*
Erythrocytes / drug effects
Erythrocytes / physiology
Hemolysis
Humans
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Microbial Viability / drug effects
Plankton / drug effects
Plankton / physiology
Sheep, Domestic
Steroids / pharmacology*
Streptococcus pneumoniae / drug effects*
Streptococcus pneumoniae / physiology

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Steroids
ceragenin CSA-13

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica (grant numbers SAF2009-10824, BFU2009-10052, BFU2012-36825, and SAF2012-39444-C02-01) and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), which is an initiative of the ISCIII. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.