Small Molecules Take A Big Step Against Clostridium difficile.

Greg L Beilhartz, John Tam, Roman A Melnyk

Abstract readComment

In one paragraph

Article in Trends in microbiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

4citing papers in PubMed

1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 26% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester protectseLife · 2025
Article
Small Molecule Attenuates Bacterial Virulence by Targeting Conserved Response Regulator.mBio · 2023
Article
Host-targeted niclosamide inhibits C. difficile virulence and prevents disease in mice without disrupting the gut microbiota.Nature communications · 2018
Article
Reactive Oxygen Species as Additional Determinants for Cytotoxicity of Clostridium difficile Toxins A and B.Toxins · 2016
Review

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

Comment on
A small-molecule antivirulence agent for treating Clostridium difficile infection.2015

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Greg L BeilhartzMolecular Structure & Function, The Hospital for Sick Children, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada.

John TamMolecular Structure & Function, The Hospital for Sick Children, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada.

Roman A MelnykMolecular Structure & Function, The Hospital for Sick Children, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada. Electronic address: roman.melnyk@sickkids.ca.

Hospital for Sick Children · CAUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Effective treatment of Clostridium difficile infections demands a shift away from antibiotics towards toxin-neutralizing agents. Work by Bender et al., using a drug that attenuates toxin action in vivo without affecting bacterial survival, demonstrates the exciting potential of small molecules as a new modality in the fight against C. difficile.

Indexed as

AnimalsAnti-Bacterial AgentsClostridioides difficileClostridium InfectionsVirulenceAnti-Bacterial AgentsClostridium difficileebseleninhibitorsmall moleculeTcdB

Identifiers

PMID26547239

DOI10.1016/j.tim.2015.10.009

OpenAlexW1962896198

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.