Noha Tharwat Abou El Khier

Title : Effect of the lantibiotic nisin on inhibitory and bactericidal activities of antibiotics used against vancomycin resistant enterococci

Abstract:

Objectives: Antibiotic resistance is a serious issue facing clinicians all over the world. Vancomycin- resistant enterococci (VRE) are amongst the most common resistant pathogens that are isolated from patients suffering from infections in our locality. New antimicrobial agents such as the lantibiotic nisin have been previously examined against resistant bacteria as it has strong antibacterial action with no chance of resistance development. This study aimed to explore the effect of nisin in combination with the conventional antibiotics against VRE, with a view to using it as an auxiliary therapy with such antibiotics for combating resistant isolates.
Methods: Twenty-three VRE had been examined for the combined effect of nisin with the routine sets of antibiotics using the microplate dilution technique for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) testing. Checkerboard microbroth assay was conducted for inspection of synergism between nisin and either ampicillin or chloramphenicol.
Results: An obvious improvement of inhibitory and bactericidal activities of the tested antibiotics after addition of lantibiotic nisin was observed, with a remarkable reduction in the MIC values of vancomycin against all of the isolates. Nisin recorded a synergistic outcome when combined with either ampicillin or chloramphenicol using the checkerboard assay.
Conclusion: Nisin could be effectively considered as a supplementary agent to traditional antibiotics in the management of VRE-associated infections, as it had a synergistic outcome with commonly prescribed antibiotics such as ampicillin and chloramphenicol.
What will audience learn from your presentation?
- explore the effect of nisin in combination with the conventional antibiotics against VRE.
- consider nisin as a supplementary agent to traditional antibiotics in the management of VRE-associated infections.

Biography:

Noha Tharwat Abou El-Khier studied at Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt and graduated as MS in  Medical Microbiology & Immunology . She received her PhD degree in 2011 at the same institution. She obtained the position of Professor of Medical Microbiology & Immunology in 2021. She has published more than 40 research articles in different journals. She is a member of ASM and ESMM. She is a reviewer and an editorial board member of many journals.