Spiramycin is a 16-membered macrolide antibiotic currently used in therapy to treat infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria responsible for respiratory tract infections, and it is also effective against some Gram-negative bacteria and against Toxoplasma spp. In contrast, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is one of the pathogens of most concern globally, is intrinsically resistant to spiramycin. In this study we show that spiramycin inhibits the expression of virulence determinants in P. aeruginosa in the absence of any significant effect on bacterial multiplication. In vitro experiments demonstrated that production of pyoverdine and pyocyanin by an environmental strain of P. aeruginosa was markedly reduced in the presence of spiramycin, as were biofilm formation, swarming motility, and rhamnolipid production. Moreover, treatment of P. aeruginosa with spiramycin sensitized the bacterium to H2O2 exposure. The ability of spiramycin to dampen the virulence of the P. aeruginosa strain was confirmed in a Galleria mellonella animal model. The results demonstrated that when G. mellonella larvae were infected with P. aeruginosa, the mortality after 24 h was >90%. In contrast, when the spiramycin was injected together with the bacterium, the mortality dropped to about 50%. Furthermore, marked reduction in transcript levels of the antimicrobial peptides gallerimycin, gloverin and moricin, and lysozyme was found in G. mellonella larvae infected with P. aeruginosa and treated with spiramycin, compared to the larvae infected without spiramycin treatment suggesting an immunomodulatory activity of spiramycin. These results lay the foundation for clinical studies to investigate the possibility of using the spiramycin as an anti-virulence and anti-inflammatory drug for a more effective treatment of P. aeruginosa infections, in combination with other antibiotics.
Keywords: Galleria mellonella; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; anti-virulence drugs; macrolide antibiotics; spiramycin.