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Quinine sulfate inhibits invasion of some bacterial skin pathogens
Author(s) -
Wolf Ronni,
Tufano Maria Antonietta,
Ruocco Vincenzo,
Grimaldi Elena,
Ruocco Eleonora,
Donnarumma Giovanna,
Baroni Adone
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-4632
pISSN - 0011-9059
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-4632.2006.02696.x
Subject(s) - medicine , staphylococcus aureus , klebsiella pneumoniae , antibiotics , microbiology and biotechnology , pseudomonas aeruginosa , skin infection , immunology , staphylococcus epidermidis , immunosuppression , bacteria , biology , gene , biochemistry , genetics , escherichia coli
Background As some of the many patients who receive antimalarials for the treatment of noninfective inflammatory diseases (lupus erythematosus, collagen vascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and others) are also immunosuppressed because of their disease and/or treatments, and may have concomitant bacterial infections, we investigated the effect of these drugs on the growth and invasion of several bacteria that are commonly associated with skin and soft tissue infections to determine whether they could protect against such conditions and obviate the need for an additional antibiotic drug. Methods The effect of quinine sulfate (QS) at concentrations of 50 and 100 µ m on the entry process of Enterobacter agglomerans , Staphylococcus aureus , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and Klebsiella pneumoniae into Caco‐2 cells was studied during the infection period. The invasive efficiency was expressed as the number of viable internalized bacteria obtained by counting the colony‐forming units (CFUs). Results The invasive ability of E. agglomerans and S. aureus was significantly inhibited by 50 and 100 µ m QS in a dose‐dependent manner when the drug was added to Caco‐2 cell monolayers during the infection period; however, QS had no significant effect on the internalization of P. aeruginosa or K. pneumoniae . Discussion and conclusions Antimalarial drugs are currently widely used to treat patients with autoimmune dermatologic and rheumatologic diseases, and have also been recently proposed as additional therapy for patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. These patients, who are often immunocompromised, may receive a secondary advantage from these antimalarials, which may provide some protection against staphylococci (amongst the most important human pathogens causing many superficial and systemic infections) and E. agglomerans .