In Vivo Effect of Halicin on Methicillin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>-Infected <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> and Its Clinical Potential
Li-Ting Kao,
Tsung-Ying Yang,
Wei-Chun Hung,
Wei-Te Yang,
Pu He,
Bo-Xuan Chen,
Yu-Chi Wang,
Shiou-Sheng Chen,
Yu-Wei Lai,
Hsian-Yu Wang,
Sung-Pin Tseng
Affiliations
Li-Ting Kao
Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Tsung-Ying Yang
Department of Medical Laboratory and Regenerative Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei 252, Taiwan
Wei-Chun Hung
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Wei-Te Yang
School of Chinese Medicine & Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, Chinese Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan
Pu He
Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Bo-Xuan Chen
Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Yu-Chi Wang
Department of Medical Science and Biotechnology, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung 801, Taiwan
Shiou-Sheng Chen
Center of General Education, University of Taipei, Taipei 10048, Taiwan
Yu-Wei Lai
Center of General Education, University of Taipei, Taipei 10048, Taiwan
Hsian-Yu Wang
Graduate Institute of Animal Vaccine Technology, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan
Sung-Pin Tseng
Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Recently, the high proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections worldwide has highlighted the urgent need for novel antibiotics to combat this crisis. The recent progress in computational techniques for use in health and medicine, especially artificial intelligence (AI), has created new and potential approaches to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as repurposing existing drugs, optimizing current agents, and designing novel compounds. Halicin was previously used as a diabetic medication, acting as a c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) inhibitor, and has recently demonstrated unexpected antibacterial activity. Although previous efforts have highlighted halicin’s potential as a promising antibiotic, evidence regarding its effectiveness against clinical strains remains limited, with insufficient proof of its clinical applicability. In this study, we sought to investigate the antibacterial activity of halicin against MRSA clinical strains to validate its clinical applicability, and a C. elegans model infected by MRSA was employed to evaluate the in vivo effect of halicin against MRSA. Our findings revealed the antibacterial activity of halicin against methicillin-resistant S. aureus clinical strains with MICs ranging from 2 to 4 µg/mL. Our study is also the first work to evaluate the in vivo effect of halicin against S. aureus using a C. elegans model, supporting its further development as an antibiotic.
