Immune system as a new therapeutic target for antibiotics

Since the discovery of penicillin by Fleming in 1928, the knowledge of the antibiotics’ spectrum and mechanism of action has been steadily increasing. Antibiotics became an effective tool in the fight against many pathogens, changing the prognosis of outcome for many serious diseases. It is already known that antibiotics not only have the antibacterial activity, but many of them—e.g. macrolides, sulphonamides and tetracyclines—have immunomodulating effect, affecting functions of lymphocytes, macrophages and costimulatory molecules, macrophage migration and phagocytosis, as well as proinflammatory cytokine secretion. The expanding knowledge of the effects of antibiotics on the immune system has brought with it new applications of antibiotics in organ transplantation, invasive cardiology and treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or asthma.