High throughput screening of a drug compound library for narrow-range anti-Campylobacter activity

Campylobacteriosis is a leading foodborne disease caused by the bacterium Campylobacter which usually manifests as acute gastroenteritis, but can also lead to serious health problems further down the line. Current treatment options for Campylobacteriosis are broad-spectrum antibiotics, which have two major problems: 1) alarming rates of antibiotic resistance among the major Campylobacter isolates, and 2) the disturbance of the normal gut microbiota, with deleterious effects on the gut homeostasis and general health in the long term. There is an urgent need for more anti-Campylobacter compounds to treat Campylobacteriosis. Ideally, these compounds leave the normal gut microbiota undisturbed, while being active against a range of Campylobacter strains. Here, we propose screening a library of existing drugs for anti-Campylobacter activity. For a subset of active compounds, we will quantify the ‘in-range’ effects on 20 Campylobacter strains and the ‘out-of-range’ effects on 40 commensal human gut microbiota strains. With this screening we aim to repurpose an existing drug, which has already been through expensive safety trials in humans, for treating Campylobacter infections. Because of the substantial reduction in time and costs to get repurposed versus novel compounds to the market, such an approach should have more chance to actually make it from benchtop to bedside.