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Tegos, George

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Tegos

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Tegos, George
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.20ed7f46-1143-4b9b-b458-3e552ba44e9a

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    Microbial Efflux Systems and Inhibitors: Approaches to Drug Discovery and the Challenge of Clinical Implementation
    (Bentham Open, 2013) Kourtesi, Christina; Ball, Anthony R; Huang, Ying-Ying; Jachak, Sanjay M; Vera, D Mariano A; Khondkar, Proma; Gibbons, Simon; Hamblin, Michael; Tegos, George
    Conventional antimicrobials are increasingly ineffective due to the emergence of multidrug-resistance among pathogenic microorganisms. The need to overcome these deficiencies has triggered exploration for novel and unconventional approaches to controlling microbial infections. Multidrug efflux systems (MES) have been a profound obstacle in the successful deployment of antimicrobials. The discovery of small molecule efflux system blockers has been an active and rapidly expanding research discipline. A major theme in this platform involves efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) from natural sources. The discovery methodologies and the available number of natural EPI-chemotypes are increasing. Advances in our understanding of microbial physiology have shed light on a series of pathways and phenotypes where the role of efflux systems is pivotal. Complementing existing antimicrobial discovery platforms such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) with efflux inhibition is a subject under investigation. This core information is a stepping stone in the challenge of highlighting an effective drug development path for EPIs since the puzzle of clinical implementation remains unsolved. This review summarizes advances in the path of EPI discovery, discusses potential avenues of EPI implementation and development, and underlines the need for highly informative and comprehensive translational approaches.
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    Concepts and Principles of Photodynamic Therapy as an Alternative Antifungal Discovery Platform
    (Frontiers Research Foundation, 2012) Dai, Tianhong; Fuchs, Beth B.; Coleman, Jeffrey J.; Prates, Renato A.; Astrakas, Christos; St. Denis, Tyler G.; Ribeiro, Martha S.; Mylonakis, E; Hamblin, Michael; Tegos, George
    Opportunistic fungal pathogens may cause superficial or serious invasive infections, especially in immunocompromised and debilitated patients. Invasive mycoses represent an exponentially growing threat for human health due to a combination of slow diagnosis and the existence of relatively few classes of available and effective antifungal drugs. Therefore systemic fungal infections result in high attributable mortality. There is an urgent need to pursue and deploy novel and effective alternative antifungal countermeasures. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) was established as a successful modality for malignancies and age-related macular degeneration but photodynamic inactivation has only recently been intensively investigated as an alternative antimicrobial discovery and development platform. The concept of photodynamic inactivation requires microbial exposure to either exogenous or endogenous photosensitizer molecules, followed by visible light energy, typically wavelengths in the red/near infrared region that cause the excitation of the photosensitizers resulting in the production of singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen species that react with intracellular components, and consequently produce cell inactivation and death. Antifungal PDT is an area of increasing interest, as research is advancing (i) to identify the photochemical and photophysical mechanisms involved in photoinactivation; (ii) to develop potent and clinically compatible photosensitizers; (iii) to understand how photoinactivation is affected by key microbial phenotypic elements multidrug resistance and efflux, virulence and pathogenesis determinants, and formation of biofilms; (iv) to explore novel photosensitizer delivery platforms; and (v) to identify photoinactivation applications beyond the clinical setting such as environmental disinfectants.
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    A Novel Flow Cytometric HTS Assay Reveals Functional Modulators of ATP Binding Cassette Transporter ABCB6
    (Public Library of Science, 2012) Polireddy, Kishore; Khan, Mohiuddin Md. Taimur; Chavan, Hemantkumar; Young, Susan; Ma, Xiaochao; Waller, Anna; Garcia, Matthew; Perez, Dominique; Chavez, Stephanie; Strouse, Jacob J.; Haynes, Mark K.; Bologa, Cristian G.; Oprea, Tudor I.; Tegos, George; Sklar, Larry A.; Krishnamurthy, Partha
    ABCB6 is a member of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette family of transporter proteins that is increasingly recognized as a relevant physiological and therapeutic target. Evaluation of modulators of ABCB6 activity would pave the way toward a more complete understanding of the significance of this transport process in tumor cell growth, proliferation and therapy-related drug resistance. In addition, this effort would improve our understanding of the function of ABCB6 in normal physiology with respect to heme biosynthesis, and cellular adaptation to metabolic demand and stress responses. To search for modulators of ABCB6, we developed a novel cell-based approach that, in combination with flow cytometric high-throughput screening (HTS), can be used to identify functional modulators of ABCB6. Accumulation of protoporphyrin, a fluorescent molecule, in wild-type ABCB6 expressing K562 cells, forms the basis of the HTS assay. Screening the Prestwick Chemical Library employing the HTS assay identified four compounds, benzethonium chloride, verteporfin, tomatine hydrochloride and piperlongumine, that reduced ABCB6 mediated cellular porphyrin levels. Validation of the identified compounds employing the hemin-agarose affinity chromatography and mitochondrial transport assays demonstrated that three out of the four compounds were capable of inhibiting ABCB6 mediated hemin transport into isolated mitochondria. However, only verteporfin and tomatine hydrochloride inhibited ABCB6’s ability to compete with hemin as an ABCB6 substrate. This assay is therefore sensitive, robust, and suitable for automation in a high-throughput environment as demonstrated by our identification of selective functional modulators of ABCB6. Application of this assay to other libraries of synthetic compounds and natural products is expected to identify novel modulators of ABCB6 activity.
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    Photodynamic and Antibiotic Therapy Impair the Pathogenesis of Enterococcus faecium in a Whole Animal Insect Model
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Chibebe, José, Jr.; Fuchs, Beth B.; Sabino, Caetano P.; Junqueira, Juliana C.; Jorge, Antonio O. C.; Ribeiro, Martha S.; Rice, Louis B.; Gilmore, Michael; Tegos, George; Hamblin, Michael; Mylonakis, E
    Enterococcus faecium has emerged as one of the most important pathogens in healthcare-associated infections worldwide due to its intrinsic and acquired resistance to many antibiotics, including vancomycin. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is an alternative therapeutic platform that is currently under investigation for the control and treatment of infections. PDT is based on the use of photoactive dye molecules, widely known as photosensitizer (PS). PS, upon irradiation with visible light, produces reactive oxygen species that can destroy lipids and proteins causing cell death. We employed Galleria mellonella (the greater wax moth) caterpillar fatally infected with E. faecium to develop an invertebrate host model system that can be used to study the antimicrobial PDT (alone or combined with antibiotics). In the establishment of infection by E. faecium in G. mellonella, we found that the G. mellonella death rate was dependent on the number of bacterial cells injected into the insect hemocoel and all E. faecium strains tested were capable of infecting and killing G. mellonella. Antibiotic treatment with ampicillin, gentamicin or the combination of ampicillin and gentamicin prolonged caterpillar survival infected by E. faecium (P = 0.0003, P = 0.0001 and P = 0.0001, respectively). In the study of antimicrobial PDT, we verified that methylene blue (MB) injected into the insect followed by whole body illumination prolonged the caterpillar survival (P = 0.0192). Interestingly, combination therapy of larvae infected with vancomycin-resistant E. faecium, with antimicrobial PDT followed by vancomycin, significantly prolonged the survival of the caterpillars when compared to either antimicrobial PDT (P = 0.0095) or vancomycin treatment alone (P = 0.0025), suggesting that the aPDT made the vancomycin resistant E. faecium strain more susceptible to vancomycin action. In summary, G. mellonella provides an invertebrate model host to study the antimicrobial PDT and to explore combinatorial aPDT-based treatments.
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    Involvement of Skeletal Muscle Gene Regulatory Network in Susceptibility to Wound Infection Following Trauma
    (Public Library of Science, 2007) Apidianakis, Yiorgos; Mindrinos, Michael N.; Xiao, Wenzhong; Tegos, George; Papisov, Mikhail; Hamblin, Michael; Davis, Ronald W.; Tompkins, Ronald; Rahme, Laurence
    Despite recent advances in our understanding the pathophysiology of trauma, the basis of the predisposition of trauma patients to infection remains unclear. A Drosophila melanogaster/Pseudomonas aeruginosa injury and infection model was used to identify host genetic components that contribute to the hyper-susceptibility to infection that follows severe trauma. We show that P. aeruginosa compromises skeletal muscle gene (SMG) expression at the injury site to promote infection. We demonstrate that activation of SMG structural components is under the control of cJun-N-terminal Kinase (JNK) Kinase, Hemipterous (Hep), and activation of this pathway promotes local resistance to P. aeruginosa in flies and mice. Our study links SMG expression and function to increased susceptibility to infection, and suggests that P. aeruginosa affects SMG homeostasis locally by restricting SMG expression in injured skeletal muscle tissue. Local potentiation of these host responses, and/or inhibition of their suppression by virulent P. aeruginosa cells, could lead to novel therapies that prevent or treat deleterious and potentially fatal infections in severely injured individuals.
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    Antimicrobial and Efflux Pump Inhibitory Activity of Caffeoylquinic Acids from Artemisia absinthium Against Gram-Positive Pathogenic Bacteria
    (Public Library of Science, 2011) Fiamegos, Yiannis C.; Kastritis, Panagiotis L.; Exarchou, Vassiliki; Han, Haley; Bonvin, Alexandre M. J. J.; Vervoort, Jacques; Lewis, Kim; Hamblin, Michael; Tegos, George
    Background: Traditional antibiotics are increasingly suffering from the emergence of multidrug resistance amongst pathogenic bacteria leading to a range of novel approaches to control microbial infections being investigated as potential alternative treatments. One plausible antimicrobial alternative could be the combination of conventional antimicrobial agents/antibiotics with small molecules which block multidrug efflux systems known as efflux pump inhibitors. Bioassay-driven purification and structural determination of compounds from plant sources have yielded a number of pump inhibitors which acted against gram positive bacteria. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study we report the identification and characterization of 4',5'-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid (4',5'-ODCQA) from Artemisia absinthium as a pump inhibitor with a potential of targeting efflux systems in a wide panel of Gram-positive human pathogenic bacteria. Separation and identification of phenolic compounds (chlorogenic acid, 3',5'-ODCQA, 4',5'-ODCQA) was based on hyphenated chromatographic techniques such as liquid chromatography with post column solid-phase extraction coupled with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy. Microbial susceptibility testing and potentiation of well know pump substrates revealed at least two active compounds; chlorogenic acid with weak antimicrobial activity and 4',5'-ODCQA with pump inhibitory activity whereas 3',5'-ODCQA was ineffective. These intitial findings were further validated with checkerboard, berberine accumulation efflux assays using efflux-related phenotypes and clinical isolates as well as molecular modeling methodology. Conclusions/Significance: These techniques facilitated the direct analysis of the active components from plant extracts, as well as dramatically reduced the time needed to analyze the compounds, without the need for prior isolation. The calculated energetics of the docking poses supported the biological information for the inhibitory capabilities of 4',5'-ODCQA and furthermore contributed evidence that CQAs show a preferential binding to Major Facilitator Super family efflux systems, a key multidrug resistance determinant in gram-positive bacteria.