Chemical and Biological Aspects of Nutritional Immunity—Perspectives for New Anti-Infectives that Target Iron Uptake Systems

Ursula Bilitewski, Joshua A.V. Blodgett, Anne Kathrin Duhme-Klair, Sabrina Dallavalle, Sabine Laschat, Anne Routledge, Rainer Schobert

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

Upon bacterial infection, one of the defense mechanisms of the host is the withdrawal of essential metal ions, in particular iron, which leads to “nutritional immunity”. However, bacteria have evolved strategies to overcome iron starvation, for example, by stealing iron from the host or other bacteria through specific iron chelators with high binding affinity. Fortunately, these complex interactions between the host and pathogen that lead to metal homeostasis provide several opportunities for interception and, thus, allow the development of novel antibacterial compounds. This Review focuses on iron, discusses recent highlights, and gives some future perspectives which are relevant in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)14360-14382
Number of pages23
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume56
Issue number46
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 13 2017

Keywords

  • antibiotics
  • heme proteins
  • iron
  • nutritional immunity
  • siderophores

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