Bacterial pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity/mortality worldwide. Antibiotics constitute the
standard of care but face with the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the curative
failure. The project aims at assessing an adjunct to antibiotic therapy as an emerging concept of
overcome AMR. The project leverages (i) unique immunomodulatory flagellin that enhances airway
epithelial immune defenses and increases the therapeutic outcome relative to an antibiotic, and (ii)
airway-specific delivery by inhalation/nebulization. The objectives are to (1) demonstrate that flagellin
strengthens the response to antibiotics in preclinical models of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia, and (2)
identify host immune factors required for the gain of protection with systems biology. Outcomes
include the enrichment of the pipeline of novel treatments against pneumonia, the reinforcement of
the capacity to control AMR, the development of new avenues of research on the mode of action of
flagellin.
