New approaches towards the identification of antibiotic and vaccine targets in Streptococcus pneumoniae
Open Access
- 1 August 2002
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Nature in EMBO Reports
- Vol. 3 (8) , 728-734
- https://doi.org/10.1093/embo-reports/kvf152
Abstract
Streptococcus pneumoniae causes more than one million deaths every year, mostly of young children in developing countries, due to pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis. The emergence and dissemination of drug‐resistant pneumococcal strains, coupled to changing patterns of virulence and the inadequacy of available vaccines, calls for an aggressive search for novel targets for antibiotic and vaccine development. Microbial genomics techniques allow genetic and biochemical tools to be employed to tackle discovery, design and development of new anti‐infective agents based on the identification of hundreds of new targets. In this review, novel approaches employed to identify potential antibiotic and vaccine targets in S. pneumoniae are highlighted. Recently identified virulence factors, as well as molecules essential for bacterial viability, cell wall integrity and infectivity, are discussed.This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
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