{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T19:25:15Z","timestamp":1790364315961,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,30]],"date-time":"2020-12-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1609286400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Key Research and Development Program  2017YFD0500202","award":["2017YFD0500202"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017YFD0500202"]}]},{"name":"Outstanding Youth Project of Hubei Natural Science Foundation (2019CFA095)","award":["2019CFA095"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019CFA095"]}]},{"name":"the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System","award":["CARS-35"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CARS-35"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS) likely occurs when an individual is infected with the Streptococcus suis (S. suis) epidemic strain and is characterized by a cytokine storm, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and a high incidence of mortality despite adequate treatment. A number of antibiotics exhibit excellent bactericidal effects in vivo, such as fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides (gentamicin) and \u03b2-lactams (penicillin G, ceftiofur, or amoxicillin), but are less effective for treating STSLS. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new compounds that can reduce the damage caused by STSLS. In the present study, we identified auranofin, an orally bioavailable FDA-approved anti-rheumatic drug as a candidate repurposed drug to treat severe S. suis infections. Our results showed that auranofin can bind to the functional domain of bacterial thioredoxin reductase, decreasing the reducing redox-responsive capacity of target bacteria and allowing for the killing of S. suis cells. We also observed that auranofin has antibacterial activity against other gram-positive bacteria, such as multidrug resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (MDRSP), Streptococcus agalactiae, and vancomycin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, auranofin is capable of eradicating intracellular S.suis present inside infected macrophage cells. Mouse model experimental results showed that auranofin could effectively reduce the mortality of mice infected with S. suis. Compared to the ampicillin treatment group, the survival rate of mice in the auranofin treatment group in severely infected model mice was significantly improved. These results suggest that auranofin has the potential for use as an effective antibiotic against S. suis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics10010026","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,30]],"date-time":"2020-12-30T09:35:23Z","timestamp":1609320923000},"page":"26","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Auranofin Has Advantages over First-Line Drugs in the Treatment of Severe Streptococcus suis Infections"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Hao","family":"Lu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenjia","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6911-2471","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yongwei","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chenchen","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liming","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze 274000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaodan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhaoyuan","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hubei Biopesticide Engineering Research Centre, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gaoyan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenqi","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chen","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Preventive Veterinary Medicine in Hubei Province, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan 430070, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Development of Veterinary Diagnostic Products, Ministry of Agriculture of the People\u2019s Republic of China, Wuhan 430070, China"},{"name":"International Research Center for Animal Disease, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People\u2019s Republic of China, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manli","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hubei Biopesticide Engineering Research Centre, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Segura, M. 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