Objectives:

Antivirulence therapy approaches have emerged as remarkable strategies in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Metal ions, particularly iron, play a crucial role in the metabolic activities and virulence of bacteria. Loading iron into siderophore molecules offers a potential avenue to circumvent antimicrobial resistance. This study aimed to evaluate the antibiofilm and antimicrobial effect of deferoxamine (DFO) on antibiotic susceptibility in clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and carbapenemresistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) isolates.

Materials and Methods:

The in vitro antibacterial activity of DFO alone and in combination with vancomycin (30μg), amoxicillin (25μg), colistin (10μg), and imipenem (10μg), was investigated against MRSA and CRAB isolates using the disk diffusion method. The spectrophotometric microplate method was performed to detect the in vitro antibiofilm effect of DFO.

Results:

The results showed that DFO exhibited a synergistic effect with vancomycin, amoxicillin, and colistin, and also significantly disrupted mature biofilms of MRSA and CRAB isolates. Notably, the antibiofilm effect of DFO was found to be more pronounced in CRAB strains.

Conclusion:

These findings highlight the potential of DFO as an antibiofilm agent candidate and suggest that it can enhance the susceptibility of certain microorganism species to antibiotics.

Keywords: Deferoxamine, iron chelator, non-antibiotics, antibiofilm, synergism