TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring antimicrobial properties of cholesterol esters
T2 - A systematic literature review
AU - Jong, Timothy
AU - Mudgil, Poonam
N1 - Includes bibliographical references.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Antibiotic resistance has become an increasingly common problem in treating infectious diseases caused by pathogenic micro-organisms, and this threat is heightened due to the lack of new antibiotic discoveries since the 1980s. This paper aims to summarise the currently available knowledge on the antimicrobial properties of cholesterol esters and to evaluate the use of cholesterol esters as an alternative to antibiotics. A systematic literature search was conducted in three databases namely Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science to retrieve articles published between 2000 and 2020 where cholesterol esters were the primary or one of the primary examined molecules as part of research targeting immunity and antimicrobial operations. The findings showed antibacterial properties of cholesterol esters, their synergistic activity with antibiotics, antimicrobial role of cholesterol esters in upper respiratory tract and its diseases in humans, and correlation of cholesterol esters with infection protection in physically active individuals. Overall, there is strong evidence that cholesterol esters have antimicrobial properties. However, the currently pooled information available for cholesterol esters’ antimicrobial properties is not expansive enough to draw a conclusion on its ability to replace existing antibiotics as a treatment for infections and this warrants future investigation.
AB - Antibiotic resistance has become an increasingly common problem in treating infectious diseases caused by pathogenic micro-organisms, and this threat is heightened due to the lack of new antibiotic discoveries since the 1980s. This paper aims to summarise the currently available knowledge on the antimicrobial properties of cholesterol esters and to evaluate the use of cholesterol esters as an alternative to antibiotics. A systematic literature search was conducted in three databases namely Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science to retrieve articles published between 2000 and 2020 where cholesterol esters were the primary or one of the primary examined molecules as part of research targeting immunity and antimicrobial operations. The findings showed antibacterial properties of cholesterol esters, their synergistic activity with antibiotics, antimicrobial role of cholesterol esters in upper respiratory tract and its diseases in humans, and correlation of cholesterol esters with infection protection in physically active individuals. Overall, there is strong evidence that cholesterol esters have antimicrobial properties. However, the currently pooled information available for cholesterol esters’ antimicrobial properties is not expansive enough to draw a conclusion on its ability to replace existing antibiotics as a treatment for infections and this warrants future investigation.
KW - Antibiotic alternative
KW - Antimicrobial lipids
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Cholesterol ester
KW - Immunity
KW - Infectious diseases
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U2 - 10.1080/26895293.2022.2085816
DO - 10.1080/26895293.2022.2085816
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85131600306
SN - 2689-5293
VL - 15
SP - 684
EP - 691
JO - All Life
JF - All Life
IS - 1
ER -