Suppression of virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by erythromycin

The effects of erythromycin stearate over a concentration range of 0.1-10 mg/l on production of elastase, protease and leucocidin by clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were investigated. Growth of P. aeruginosa N42 in broth was not affected significantly during 24 h culture with erythromycin (0.1-10 mg/l), although extracellular protein contents were reduced by erythromycin at concentrations of 0.1-1.0 mg/l. Production of elastase and protease by strain N42 was significantly suppressed by erythromycin with a maximum inhibition at 0.5 mg/l, but the complete inhibition of enzyme production was not achieved. In contrast, leucocidin production by strain N42 was completely impaired by erythromycin at concentrations of 0.1-5.0 mg/l. Although the leucotoxic activity, as determined by vital staining, was not detected, the leucocidin fraction prepared from the autolysate of strain N42 cultured with 10 mg/l of erythromycin induced morphological changes in human leucocytes, resulting in release of elastase. Erythromycin exerted similar effects on other clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa. These findings indicate that erythromycin might have a role in P. aeruginosa infection, although it has no direct antibacterial activity.