The Revaluation of Plant-Derived Terpenes to Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Infections
Floriana Cappiello,
Maria Rosa Loffredo,
Cristina Del Plato,
Silvia Cammarone,
Bruno Casciaro,
Deborah Quaglio,
Maria Luisa Mangoni,
Bruno Botta,
Francesca Ghirga
Affiliations
Floriana Cappiello
Laboratory affiliated to Pasteur Italia-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Department of Biochemical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Maria Rosa Loffredo
Laboratory affiliated to Pasteur Italia-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Department of Biochemical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Cristina Del Plato
Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, “Department of Excellence 2018−2022”, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Silvia Cammarone
Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, “Department of Excellence 2018−2022”, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Bruno Casciaro
Center For Life Nano Science@Sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161 Rome, Italy
Deborah Quaglio
Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, “Department of Excellence 2018−2022”, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Maria Luisa Mangoni
Laboratory affiliated to Pasteur Italia-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Department of Biochemical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Bruno Botta
Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, “Department of Excellence 2018−2022”, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Francesca Ghirga
Center For Life Nano Science@Sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161 Rome, Italy
The discovery of antibiotics has revolutionized the medicine and treatment of microbial infections. However, the current scenario has highlighted the difficulties in marketing new antibiotics and an exponential increase in the appearance of resistant strains. On the other hand, research in the field of drug-discovery has revaluated the potential of natural products as a unique source for new biologically active molecules and scaffolds for the medicinal chemistry. In this review, we first contextualized the worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance and the importance that natural products of plant origin acquire as a source of new lead compounds. We then focused on terpenes and their potential development as antimicrobials, highlighting those studies that showed an activity against conventional antibiotic-resistant strains.
