Open AccessEffect of Two Cancer Chemotherapeutic Agents on the Antibacterial Activity of Three Antimicrobial Agents
Author(s) -
Mark Moody,
Maureen J. Morris,
Viola Mae Young,
Lemuel A. Moyé,
Stephen C. Schimpff,
Peter H. Wiernik
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.07
H-Index - 259
eISSN - 1070-6283
pISSN - 0066-4804
DOI - 10.1128/aac.14.5.737
Subject(s) - amikacin , antimicrobial , gentamicin , aminoglycoside , ticarcillin , antibiotics , daunorubicin , pharmacology , pseudomonas aeruginosa , microbiology and biotechnology , tobramycin , medicine , leukemia , biology , imipenem , bacteria , antibiotic resistance , genetics
Cancer chemotherapeutic agents and antibacterial antibiotics are often given concomitantly. Daunorubicin, cytosine arabinoside, and three antibiotics (gentamicin, amikacin, and ticarcillin) were tested individually and in combinations to determine their antimicrobial activity againstPseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae , andEscherichia coli . These cytotoxic agents are commonly employed in the therapy of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia for remission induction therapy, and these antimicrobial agents are used in infection therapy. The maximum concentrations of the two cytotoxic drugs were chosen to be twice the known peak plasma levels of commonly employed dosage schedules. Neither of the cancer chemotherapeutic agents, alone or in combination, demonstrated bactericidal activity at the levels tested. However, in the presence of these agents, the antimicrobial activity of gentamicin and amikacin, although not that of ticarcillin, was depressed for 11 of 15K. pneumoniae strains and 8 of 15P. aeruginosa strains, but for none of the strains ofE. coli . This level of decreased activity occasionally resulted in a minimal inhibitory concentration of the tested aminoglycoside well above the standard serum levels. Daunorubicin was more likely to antagonize gentamicin than was cytosine arabinoside.