| Title |
Targeting virulence: can we make evolution-proof drugs?
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature Reviews Microbiology, March 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1038/nrmicro3232 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Richard C. Allen, Roman Popat, Stephen P. Diggle, Sam P. Brown |
| Abstract |
Antivirulence drugs are a new type of therapeutic drug that target virulence factors, potentially revitalising the drug-development pipeline with new targets. As antivirulence drugs disarm the pathogen, rather than kill or halt pathogen growth, it has been hypothesized that they will generate much weaker selection for resistance than traditional antibiotics. However, recent studies have shown that mechanisms of resistance to antivirulence drugs exist, seemingly damaging the 'evolution-proof' claim. In this Opinion article, we highlight a crucial distinction between whether resistance can emerge and whether it will spread to a high frequency under drug selection. We argue that selection for resistance can be reduced, or even reversed, using appropriate combinations of target and treatment environment, opening a path towards the development of evolutionarily robust novel therapeutics. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 22 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 10 | 45% |
| United States | 2 | 9% |
| Panama | 1 | 5% |
| Switzerland | 1 | 5% |
| Canada | 1 | 5% |
| Ireland | 1 | 5% |
| Spain | 1 | 5% |
| Unknown | 5 | 23% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Scientists | 11 | 50% |
| Members of the public | 10 | 45% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 5% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 794 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 9 | 1% |
| United Kingdom | 6 | <1% |
| Brazil | 4 | <1% |
| Germany | 2 | <1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
| Chile | 1 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| Australia | 1 | <1% |
| Sweden | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 9 | 1% |
| Unknown | 759 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 162 | 20% |
| Student > Bachelor | 147 | 19% |
| Researcher | 113 | 14% |
| Student > Master | 99 | 12% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 41 | 5% |
| Other | 108 | 14% |
| Unknown | 124 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 263 | 33% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 167 | 21% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 76 | 10% |
| Chemistry | 45 | 6% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 26 | 3% |
| Other | 77 | 10% |
| Unknown | 140 | 18% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 75. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 November 2023.
All research outputs
#582,635
of 26,017,215 outputs
Outputs from Nature Reviews Microbiology
#296
of 2,883 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#5,148
of 240,007 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature Reviews Microbiology
#3
of 42 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,017,215 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,883 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 38.4. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 240,007 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 42 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.