{"doi":"10.1002/cmdc.202000239","title":"Expanding the Spectrum of Antibiotics Capable of Killing Multidrug‐Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>","abstract":"Infections from antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are a serious threat because reduced antibiotic efficacy complicates treatment decisions and prolongs the disease state in many patients. To expand the arsenal of treatments against antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) pathogens, 600-Da branched polyethylenimine (BPEI) can overcome antibiotic resistance mechanisms and potentiate β-lactam antibiotics against Gram-positive bacteria. BPEI binds cell-wall teichoic acids and disables resistance factors from penicillin binding proteins PBP2a and PBP4. This study describes a new mechanism of action for BPEI potentiation of antibiotics generally regarded as agents effective against Gram-positive pathogens but not Gram-negative bacteria. 600-Da BPEI is able to reduce the barriers to drug influx and facilitate the uptake of a non-β-lactam co-drug, erythromycin, which targets the intracellular machinery. Also, BPEI can suppress production of the cytokine interleukin IL-8 by human epithelial keratinocytes. This enables BPEI to function as a broad-spectrum antibiotic potentiator, and expands the opportunities to improve drug design, antibiotic development, and therapeutic approaches against pathogenic bacteria, especially for wound care.","journal":"ChemMedChem","year":2020,"id":80305,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":15,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9474,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":417132,"name":"Hannah Panlilio","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":416297,"name":"Jennifer Pusavat","orcid":"0000-0001-8864-932X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":416298,"name":"Cassandra L. Wouters","orcid":"0000-0002-4806-7007","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":392021,"name":"Erika L. Moen","orcid":"0000-0002-9800-8742","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":416299,"name":"Robert Brennan","orcid":"0000-0002-1287-4069","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":416300,"name":"Charles V. Rice","orcid":"0000-0003-1424-405X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":417131,"name":"Anh K. Lam","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":64,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T21:51:24.704381Z","pmid":"32497366","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}