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Antimicrobials

The benefits of cycling

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 12, page 725 (2014)Cite this article

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alternating drug treatment reduces the emergence of resistance

To minimize the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, drugs are often used in combination rather than individually, but combination therapy is associated with toxic side effects. As an alternative, the cycling of antibiotics, in which drugs are periodically switched rather than used together, is also suggested to slow down the development of resistance. Using experimental evolution of Staphylococcus aureus, Kim et al. now show that alternating drug treatment reduces the emergence of resistance owing to trade-offs that limit the mutational pathways towards resistance.

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References

  1. Kim, S., Lieberman, T. D. & Kishony, R. Alternating antibiotic treatments constrain evolutionary paths to multidrug resistance. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409800111 (2014)

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  1. Cláudio Nunes-Alves
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Nunes-Alves, C. The benefits of cycling. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 725 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3370

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