Tackling microbial iron homeostasis: novel antimicrobial strategies.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review describing biological mechanisms and preclinical therapeutic concepts without primary clinical data.
PubMed 40914687 · doi:10.1016/j.tips.2025.08.003
What was done
This narrative review summarizes emerging antimicrobial and antivirulence strategies that target bacterial iron acquisition systems, including siderophore pathways, heme uptake, and ferrous iron transport. The authors discuss therapeutic modalities such as next-generation iron chelators, gallium-based iron mimetics, siderophore-drug conjugates, hemolysin inhibitors, host-mediated iron sequestration, and bio-inspired nanotechnologies.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative data or empirical outcome metrics. It outlines conceptual mechanisms whereby interfering with iron homeostasis impairs bacterial growth and virulence, such as using gallium to disrupt redox metabolism, exploiting iron transporters for targeted drug delivery, and attenuating pathogenicity via hemolysin inhibition.
Why it matters
Targeting microbial iron homeostasis provides alternative therapeutic approaches to combat multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens by exploiting essential nutrient acquisition pathways.
Limits
As a narrative review, the abstract presents no primary experimental or clinical trial data, quantitative comparisons of drug efficacy, or detailed assessments of in vivo toxicity and translational feasibility across specific pathogen species.
Cited by
- supports Pathogens feed on and utilize iron in the body.