Cont, D., Schildböck, C., Kolm, C., Kirschner, A., Farnleitner, A., Hartmann, J., Weber, V., & Harm, S. (2025). Influence of heparin-based anticoagulants on antibiotic therapy. Frontiers in Immunology, 16, Article 1708169. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1708169
A world without antibiotics is hard to conceive. They have revolutionized the treatment landscape for bacterial infections, reducing mortality rates and enabling complex medical procedures. However, their widespread use has fueled the rise of antimicrobial resistance, a growing global health threat that demands new antibacterial therapies and strategies to preserve the efficacy of existing treatments. Among promising candidates, antimicrobial compounds (AMCs) offer broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity with a lower risk of resistance development. Recent studies suggest that unfractionated heparin, a commonly used anticoagulant, reduces the antibacterial and endotoxin-neutralizing activity of blood-derived AMCs, likely through ionic interactions.
