1. Introduction
Antibiotic resistance represents a serious public health and it is associated to to million of deaths annually [
1]. Since the discovery of first antimicrobial molecules, the emergence of novel traits of resistance to antimicrobials have been observed concomitantly [
2]. It’s well known that antimicrobial resistance have been associated with their misuse and overuse in different field of applications (humans, animals and plants). Indeed, the presence of antimicrobial rich environments create a favourable conditions that allow the selection of resistant subpopulations in opposition to sensitive microorganisms [
3].
With the diffusion and rapid increase of antimicrobial-resistance, the development of microorganisms resistant to multiple antimicrobial classes of compounds have been observed subsequently [
4]. The emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) microorganisms posed different limitations to the clinicians by reducing the available antimicrobial armamentarium. In the last years, the diffusion of MDR strains have been considered an urgent threat especially among gram-negative bacteria that requires a prompted response. To overcome these limitations, several strategies have been adopted including new schemes of treatment by combining antimicrobial molecules with no activity alone and the development of novel antimicrobial molecules [
5,
6]. At the same time, the revival of older antibiotics considered as last resort drug have posed new prospective in treatment of difficult-to-treat (DTR) infections due to MDR strains [
5].
Colistin
, also known as polymyxin E, is an old antimicrobial molecule that it wa
s discovered in the middle of 19th century in Japan from a culture of
Paenibacillus polymyxa subspecies [
7]. Colistin is a
cyclic oligopeptides antimicrobials belonging to the class of polycationic antibiotic and it’s active against most Gram-negative bacteria by binding to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the outer cell membranes by electrostatic interaction. The linkage between colistin and outer membrane create a disorganization of the outer membrane structure thus resulting in an alteration of the outer membrane and consequently intracellular contents release and bacterial death [
7].
In the last years, renew of older antibiotics such as colistin have created new prospective in treatment of DTR infections [
6,
8]. However, the emergence of new traits of resistance to this drug and the adverse toxic effects to mammalian cells have mitigated its use in clinical practice [
6,
7]
In this review we discuss the principle of the mode of action, the emerging traits related to the resistance and the use of colistin in clinical practice from a pharmacological and clinical point of views.
4. Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Features
According to several preclinical evidence, the free area under the concentration-to-time curve to minimum inhibitory concentration ratio (
fAUC/MIC) was defined as the best pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) target for colistin efficacy in infections caused by
P. aeruginosa and
A. baumannii [
119]. In a neutropenic murine thigh and lung infection model against three
P. aeruginosa strains, Dudhani et al. [
120] found that the
fAUC/MIC ratio was the best PK/PD index correlating with colistin efficacy both in thigh (
R2=0.87) and lung infection model (
R2=0.89). The colistin
fAUC/MIC targets required to achieve 1-log and 2-log kill against the three strains were 15.6 to 22.8 and 27.6 to 36.1, respectively, in the thigh infection model, whereas a
fAUC/MIC ratio ranging from 12.2 to 16.7 and from 36.9 to 45.9 was found in the lung infection model for achieving 1-log and 2-log kill [
120]. In a neutropenic murine thigh and lung infection model against three
A. baumannii strains (of which two were colistin heteroresistant), Dudhani et al. [
121] reported that the
fAUC/MIC ratio was the best PK/PD index correlating with colistin efficacy both in thigh (
R2=0.90) and lung infection model (
R2=0.80). The colistin
fAUC/MIC targets required to achieve stasis and 1-log kill against the three strains were 1.89–7.41 and 6.98–13.6 in the thigh infection model, respectively, and 1.57–6.52 and 8.18–42.1, respectively, in the lung infection model [
121]. Notably, these colistin PK/PD targets against
P. aeruginosa and
A. baumannii were consistent with those retrieved in a recent murine thigh and lung infection model [
122]. Indeed, the
fAUC/MIC ratio was confirmed as the best PK/PD target for predicting colistin efficacy, being desired
fAUC/MIC ratios for achieving 2-log kill against
Pseudomonas aeruginosa and
A. baumannii strains of 7.4–13.7 and 7.4–17.6, respectively [
122]. It should be noticed that these PK/PD targets could be attained only in two
P. aeruginosa strains and in one
A. baumannii strain in the lung infection model even at the highest colistin dose tolerated [
122].
In
Enterobacterales, an in vitro model investigated the best PK/PD target of colistin efficacy against three
K. pneumoniae strains exhibiting MIC values of 0.5, 1, and 4 mg/L, respectively [
123]. The
fAUC/MIC ratio emerged as the best PK/PD target for colistin efficacy, being an
fAUC/MIC ≥25 more predictive for a bactericidal effect [
123]. Notably, this PK/PD target may be attained at standard colistin dose of 9 MU in 100%, 5-70%, and 0% of
K. pneumoniae isolates showing an MIC value of 0.5, 1, and 2 mg/L, respectively [
123]. These findings may suggest on the one hand the need for revising current colistin clinical breakpoint against
Enterobacterales, and on the other hand the potential relevance of implementing a therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)-guided approach for personalizing colistin dosage.
It should be noticed that evidence investigating the relationship between optimal PK/PD target attainment for colistin retrieved in preclinical studies and clinical outcome are currently limited. A prospective observational study investigated the relationship between PK/PD target attainment of colistin and microbiological/clinical outcome in nine patients affected by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative infections (eight caused by
A. baumannii and one by
K. pneumoniae) [
124]. After the fifth colistin dose of 2 MU, the AUC
0-8/MIC ranged from 35.5 to 126
- Although no significant relationship between AUC/MIC ratio and microbiological/clinical cure was found, a positive trend was observed at logistic regression (p=0.28) [
124]. A prospective observational study including 33 patients affected by urinary tract infections and/or pyelonephritis caused by extremely drug-resistant
P. aeruginosa reported no significant difference in
fAUC/MIC ratio between cases exhibiting favourable clinical outcome and those with clinical failure (21.5 vs. 47.4; p=0.85) or in proportion of attainment of an AUC/MIC ratio ≥60 mg/L (32.3% vs. 50.0%; p=0.99) [
125]. At multivariate analysis, average steady-state colistin concentration showed a trend towards statistical significance for acute kidney injury occurrence at the multivariate analysis (OR 4.36; 95%CI 0.86-20.0; p=0.07 (Sorlí et al., 2019).
Studies assessing colistin penetration in different sites of infection are reported in
Table 1. Currently, data are available only for lung, central nervous system (CNS), and eye (
Table 1). Specifically, a prospective observational study investigating epithelial lining fluid (ELF) penetration of intravenous colistin administered at a dosage of 2 MU every 8 hours in 13 critically ill patients affected by ventilator-associated pneumonia reported undetectable colistin concentrations in ELF [
126].
A prospective observational study including five critically ill patients assessed colistin penetration in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) administered intravenously at a dosage of 2-3 MU every 8 hours [
127]. Colistin CSF-to-plasma ratio was 0.05, with absolute concentrations retrieved in CSF allowing to attain optimal PK/PD target only against P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii strains showing an MIC value up to 0.06 mg/L [
127]. In regard to ocular penetration, only a preclinical animal model currently assessed this issue in twenty rabbits receiving intravenous colistin at a dosage of 5 mg/kg [
128]. Overall, absolute colistin concentrations were extremely low in aqueous humor and undetectable in vitreous humor in most of included cases [
128].
Overall, these findings may strongly support the implementation of alternative agents in case of deep-seated infections, according to the limited penetration colistin penetration rate in lung and CSF and the failure in attaining optimal PK/PD targets. Notably, these findings may be expected according to the physicochemical and PK features of colistin, namely hydrophilic properties, large molecular weight, and limited volume of distribution [
129].
5. Conclusions
In the last years, the renewed of older antimicrobial molecules have revolutionized the treatment of infections due to MDR-GN microorganisms. At the same time, novel approaches including the therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for personalizing antimicrobial dosage of the different antimicrobial molecules and new therapeutic schemes of treatment by combining antibiotics with limited antimicrobial activity have revolutionized the treatment of infections due to MDR pathogens. In this context, the clinical usage of colistin alone and in combination with other antimicrobials with scarce and/or limited antimicrobial activity have recently reinvented its role in clinical practice. Also, considering the limited antimicrobial options against these pathogens, colistin was defined as the “last-hope resource” for the treatment of DTR infections especially among critical-ill patients.
On the other side, the adverse toxic effects and the limited tissue penetrations in different anatomical districts prompted to mitigate its role in clinical setting by limiting its use. In addition, the widespread of colistin resistant strains poses a serious limitation in the sue of this molecule especially to the light of the new antimicrobial molecules recently developed with high bactericidal activity against MDR microorganisms (i.e., cefiderocol, ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, etc.).