Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles have found around 8,000 four-and five-drug combinations of antibiotics that effectively kill harmful bacteria, contrary to previously held notions. They published their findings in Systems Biology and Applications.
Previously, it has been believed that the incremental benefits of combining three or more antibiotics to fight harmful bacteria would be too small to be effective.
The researchers studied every possible four-and five-drug combinations of eight antibiotics and how effective each was against Escherichia coli. They found 1,676 combinations were more effective than expected among the four-drug combinations, and 6,443 groupings performed better than they expected among the five-drug combinations.
However, 2,331 four-drug combinations and 5,199 five-drug combinations were less effective than expected at fighting harmful bacteria.
"We're offering an alternative that looks very promising," said Pamela Yeh, a senior study author and an assistant professor in UCLA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. "We shouldn't limit ourselves to just single drugs or two-drug combinations in our medical toolbox. We expect several of these combinations, or more, will work much better than existing antibiotics." Dr. Yeh also noted, however, that these antibiotic combinations are years away from being a viable treatment for humans.
Additionally, the researchers are developing open-access software based on their findings for other scientists, enabling them to add their own tests of antibiotic combinations.