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Review
. 2021 Aug 17;10(8):995.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10080995.

Old and New Beta-Lactamase Inhibitors: Molecular Structure, Mechanism of Action, and Clinical Use

Davide Carcione  1 , Claudia Siracusa  1 , Adela Sulejmani  1 , Valerio Leoni  1 , Jari Intra  2
Affiliations
Review

Old and New Beta-Lactamase Inhibitors: Molecular Structure, Mechanism of Action, and Clinical Use

Davide Carcione et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

The β-lactams have a central place in the antibacterial armamentarium, but the increasing resistance to these drugs, especially among Gram-negative bacteria, is becoming one of the major threats to public health worldwide. Treatment options are limited, and only a small number of novel antibiotics are in development. However, one of the responses to this threat is the combination of β-lactam antibiotics with β-lactamase inhibitors, which are successfully used in the clinic for overcoming resistance by inhibiting β-lactamases. The existing inhibitors inactivate most of class A and C serine β-lactamases, but several of class D and B (metallo-β-lactamase) are resistant. The present review provides the status and knowledge concerning current β-lactamase inhibitors and an update on research efforts to identify and develop new and more efficient β-lactamase inhibitors.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance; carbapenem; cephalosporin; penicillin; β-lactamase inhibitor; β-lactams.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure depiction of clavulanic acid (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structure depiction of sulbactam (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chemical structure depiction of tazobactam (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chemical structure depiction of avibactam (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Chemical structure depiction of relebactam (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Chemical structure depiction of vaborbactam (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Chemical structure depiction of zidebactam (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Chemical structure depiction of nacubactam (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed on 1 May 2021)).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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