Pharmacological perturbation of thiamine metabolism sensitizes Pseudomonas aeruginosa to multiple antibacterial agents

• Main Authors: Kim, Hyung Jun, Li, Yingying, Zimmermann, Michael, Lee, Yunmi, Lim, Hui Wen, Tan, Alvin Swee Leong, Choi, Inhee, Ko, Yoonae, Lee, Sangchul, Seo, Jeong Jea, Seo, Mooyoung, Jeon, Hee Kyoung, Cechetto, Jonathan, Yam, Joey Kuok Hoong, Yang, Liang, Sauer, Uwe, Jang, Soojin, Pethe, Kevin
• Other Authors: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Science::Biological sciences::Biochemistry; Vitamin B1; Oxythiamine; Antimetabolite; Antibacterial; Fluorouracil; Auranofin; Synthetic Lethal Interactions; Antibacterial Screening; ESKAPE Pathogens
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163407
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

New therapeutic concepts are critically needed for carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen particularly recalcitrant to antibiotics. The screening of around 230,000 small molecules yielded a very low hit rate of 0.002% after triaging for known antibiotics. The only novel hit that stood out was the antimetabolite oxythiamine. Oxythiamine is a known transketolase inhibitor in eukaryotic cells, but its antibacterial potency has not been reported. Metabolic and transcriptomic analyses indicated that oxythiamine is intracellularly converted to oxythiamine pyrophosphate and subsequently inhibits several vitamin-B1-dependent enzymes, sensitizing the bacteria to several antibiotic and non-antibiotic drugs such as tetracyclines, 5-fluorouracil, and auranofin. The positive interaction between 5-fluorouracil and oxythiamine was confirmed in a murine ocular infection model, indicating relevance during infection. Together, this study revealed a system-level significance of thiamine metabolism perturbation that sensitizes P. aeruginosa to multiple small molecules, a property that could inform on the development of a rational drug combination.