eprintid: 10104974 rev_number: 8 eprint_status: archive userid: 695 dir: disk0/10/10/49/74 datestamp: 2020-07-14 07:49:10 lastmod: 2020-07-14 07:49:10 status_changed: 2020-07-14 07:49:10 type: thesis metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Hadjivassileva, Tsveta title: A study on the antibacterial activity of pyrrolobenzodiazepine dimers ispublished: unpub keywords: (UMI)AAI10104726; Health and environmental sciences; Antibacterial; Dimers; Pyrrolobenzodiazepine note: Thesis digitised by ProQuest. abstract: The pyrrolobenzodiazepines (PBDs) are a family of tricyclic antibiotics that interact within the minor groove of DNA to form monocovalent adducts. PBD dimers crosslink double-stranded DNA in a sequence selective manner and interfere with DNA transcription and translation. The aim of this study was to determine the antibacterial profile of three PBD dimers with differing sequence selectivity (SJG-136, DRG-16 & ELB-21) against clinical isolates from a range of bacterial infections and to investigate their mechanism of antibacterial action. MICs of the compounds were determined against a total of 123 clinical isolates, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). MIC 90 values for the PBD dimers against Gram-positive isolates were ≤ 0.5 mg/1. All Gram-negative isolates were insensitive with MIC90 of ≥ 16 mg/1. ELB-21 was the most potent compound against all strains. Time kill kinetics of the PBD dimers against two epidemic strains of MRSA, EMRSA-15 and EMRSA-16, and a VRE isolate were determined; the PBD dimers were bactericidal within 2 hours. Addition of the PBD dimers to genomic EMRSA-16 DNA significantly increased the melting temperature of the DNA, indicating that PBD dimers efficiently cross-link bacterial DNA. ELB-21 was a more potent cross-linking agent than SJG-136. Southern blotting experiments using mecA and 16S rDNA probes provided further evidence for site- selective cross linking of the strands of the DNA duplex by subinhibitory concentrations of ELB-21 and SJG-136; these compounds blocked Eco R1 cleavage at restriction sites that encompass sites of PBD dimer cross-linking. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis indicated that the observed cross-linking resulted in up-and down-regulation of a number of EMRSA-16 proteins. An initial evaluation of the efficacy of ELB-21 and SJG-136 in a murine peritonitis model proved inconclusive. This study demonstrates that the PBD dimers exert a bactericidal effect on Gram-positive pathogens by cross-linking strands of duplex DNA at selected sites on the bacterial genome. date: 2006 oa_status: green full_text_type: other thesis_class: doctoral_open thesis_award: Ph.D. language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual full_text_status: public pages: 199 institution: University College London (United Kingdom) thesis_type: Doctoral citation: Hadjivassileva, Tsveta; (2006) A study on the antibacterial activity of pyrrolobenzodiazepine dimers. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D.), University College London (United Kingdom). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10104974/1/A_study_on_the_antibacterial_a.pdf