General information
One of the biggest issues facing humanity is the problem of antibiotic-resistance. The rapid emergence of resistance has rendered traditional tactics in search of novel treatments ineffective. The connection between bacterial infections and cancer is very crucial: infections from antibioticresistant pathogens in cancer patients are a significant cause of mortality. This is attributed to cancer chemotherapy accelerating mutations in gut microflora leading to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. So, development of novel strategies for the synthesis of antimicrobial/antitumor molecules is quite important. Plant phenolics are able to reverse antibiotic-resistance both in bacterial and tumor cells by enhancing the therapeutic effect of already known preparations. The proposed project aims to determine the metabolomic characteristics of selected plants and some of the mechanisms underlying the extracts and/or individual flavonoids' antibiotic/antibiotic modulating effects. As test systems, a variety of bacteria and cell lines (both cancer and normal), including those resistant to antibiotics, will be employed. For clarifying the mechanisms of action of physiologically active substances, the in vitro, in silico and divers biochemical techniques will be used.
