Alternative treatment approaches of urinary tract infections caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains

Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most widespread and annoying infections affecting millions of people every year annually. The biggest problems of urinary diseases are recurrences, increasing resistance of uropathogens to commonly used antibiotics, as well as the high health care costs of afflicted persons. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains (UPECs) are the most dominant etiologic agents of community-acquired infections of this type. During UTI pathogenesis, UPECs utilize various virulence factors, especially mono- and polyadhesive appendages of the chaperone-usher secretion pathway (CUP) required for adhesion, invasion and biofilm formation. Commonly used antibiotics for UTI treatment are usually effective, but their long-term utility may affect gut microbiota of the treated individuals and cause selection of drug resistant uropathogenic variants. Due to increasing resistance of UPEC strains to antibiotics via the evolution of specific defense mechanisms, there is a need to develop alternative methods and therapeutic strategies to fight UTIs (vaccines, receptor analogues, pilicides and curlicides, bacterial interference or phagotherapy). Such therapeutic approaches usually target processes enabling uropathogens to survive within the urinary tract and cause recurrent infections.