Inhibition of efflux pumps as a novel approach to combat drug resistance in bacteria.

Efflux mechanisms have become broadly recognized as major components of resistance to many classes of antibiotics. Some efflux pumps selectively extrude specific antibiotics, while others, referred to as multidrug resistance (MDR) pumps, expel a variety of structurally diverse compounds with differing antibacterial modes of action. There are numerous potentially beneficial consequences of the inhibition of efflux pumps in improving the clinical performance of various antibiotics, and several companies and research laboratories have initiated programs to discover and develop efflux pump inhibitors. This review will summarize recent achievements in this new, very exciting and equally challenging field.