As the incidence of Gram-negative bacterial infections for which few effective treatments remain increases, so does the contribution of drug-hydrolyzing β-lactamase enzymes to this serious clinical problem. This review highlights recent advances in β-lactamase inhibitors and focuses on agents with novel mechanisms of action against a wide range of enzymes. To this end, we review the β-lactamase...

Avycaz combines an older cephalosporin antibiotic, ceftazidime, and the β-lactamase inhibitor avibactam. Ceftazidime targets penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) in the bacterial periplasm that are required for cell wall synthesis. Avibactam blocks β-lactamases (β-L) in the periplasm, which would otherwise inactivate the antibiotics resulting in drug resistance.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to detect the presence of IgG against Moraxella catarrhalis β-lactamase in healthy adults, and to determine whether outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) could protect the enzyme from inhibition by anti-β-lactamase IgG. METHODS Transmission electron microscopy was used to detect the presence of β-lactamase in OMVs. Sera were examined by ELISA for specific IgG dir...

Klebsiella pneumoniae strains producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) exhibit resistance to antibiotic classes. The production of ESBLs (TEM-1, TEM-2, SHV-1, OXA-1) results in resistance to ampicillin, ticarcillin, piperacillin and cephalosporins. High levels of β-lactamases leads to development of resistance to β-lactamase inhibitors. The present study deals with characterizing antimic...

OBJECTIVES To determine the mechanisms of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics in clinical isolates of Haemophilus parainfluenzae. METHODS Twenty clinical isolates of H. parainfluenzae with decreased susceptibility to aminopenicillins were examined and compared with a control group of 20 fully susceptible isolates. In this collection, the presence of amino acid substitutions in the transpeptida...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) expresses a broad-spectrum β-lactamase (BlaC) that mediates resistance to one of the highly effective antibacterials, β-lactams. Nonetheless, β-lactams showed mycobactericidal activity in combination with β-lactamase inhibitor, clavulanate (Clav). However, the mechanistic aspects of how Mtb responds to β-lactams such as Amoxicillin in combination with Clav (refe...

β-Lactamase inhibition is an important clinical strategy in overcoming β-lactamase-mediated resistance to β-lactam antibiotics in Gram negative bacteria. A new β-lactamase inhibitor, avibactam, is entering the clinical arena and promising to be a major step forward in our antibiotic armamentarium. Avibactam has remarkable broad-spectrum activity in being able to inhibit classes A, C, and some c...

AmpC is a group I, class C -lactamase present in most Enterobacteriaceae and in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli. The β-lactam class of antibiotics is one of the most important structural classes of antibacterial compounds and act by inhibiting the bacterial D ,D - transpeptidases that are responsible for the final step of peptidoglycan cross-linking. Our mai...