AR-12 has a bactericidal activity and a synergistic effect with gentamicin against group a streptococcus

Abstract

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus (GAS) is an important human pathogen that can cause severe invasive infection, such as necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syn-drome. The mortality rate of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome ranges from 20% to 50% in spite of antibiotics administration. AR-12, a pyrazole derivative, has been reported to inhibit the infection of viruses, intracellular bacteria, and fungi. In this report, we evaluated the bactericidal activities and mechanisms of AR-12 on GAS infection. Our in vitro results showed that AR-12 dose-de-pendently reduced the GAS growth, and 2.5 μg/mL of AR-12 significantly killed GAS within 2 h. AR-12 caused a remarkable reduction in nucleic acid and protein content of GAS. The expression of heat shock protein DnaK and streptococcal exotoxins was also inhibited by AR-12. Surveys of the GAS architecture by scanning electron microscopy revealed that AR-12-treated GAS displayed in-complete septa and micro-spherical structures protruding out of cell walls. Moreover, the combination of AR-12 and gentamicin had a synergistic antibacterial activity against GAS replication for both in vitro and in vivo infection. Taken together, these novel findings obtained in this study may provide a new therapeutic strategy for invasive GAS infection.