Presented at ESCMID Global 2024
Background
Gonorrhea is the second most common sexually transmitted infection with 82 million cases per year globally.1 The problem of Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection is compounded by the emergence of strains resistant to current first-line treatments, ceftriaxone and azithromycin. Development of new antibiotics that are not impacted by cross-resistance to existing treatments is crucial, and likely best achieved by exploiting new targets and modes of action.
An untapped antimicrobial target for the treatment of gonorrhea is the enoyl-ACP reductase enzyme, FabI, that is essential for fatty acid
biosynthesis in N. gonorrhoeae2
References
1) WHO. Global progress report on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, 2021
2) Yao et al. J. Biol. Chem (2016);29:171-181