Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31544504›Full record

ReviewFuture medicinal chemistry2019

Tetracyclines: light-activated antibiotics?

Michael R Hamblin, Heidi Abrahamse

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Future medicinal chemistry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 13% 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

12 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Beta-lactam antibiotics under light: optical and photochemical characterization.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Exploring antibiotic resistance with chemical tools.Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) · 2023
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Michael R HamblinWellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6431-4605
Heidi AbrahamseLaser Research Centre, Faculty of Health Science, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein 2028, Gauteng, South Africa.
Harvard University · USUniversity of Johannesburg · ZA

Funding

Photodynamic Therapy of Localized InfectionsR01AI050875 · NIAID · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI HAMBLIN, MICHAEL R · 2003 to 2017
$4.8M
Synergistic Photodynamic Therapy for Catherer-Associated Urinary Tract InfectionsR21AI121700 · NIAID · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI HAMBLIN, MICHAEL R · 2016 to 2017
$462k
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI050875NIAID NIH HHS R21 AI121700
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Tetracyclines are well established antibiotics but show phototoxicity as a side effect. Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation uses nontoxic dyes combined with harmless light to destroy microbial cells by reactive oxygen species. Tetracyclines (demeclocycline and doxycycline) can act as light-activated antibiotics by binding to bacterial cells and killing them only upon illumination. The remaining tetracyclines can prevent bacterial regrowth after illumination has ceased. Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation can be potentiated by potassium iodide. Azide quenched the formation of iodine, but not hydrogen peroxide. Demeclotetracycline (but not doxycycline) iodinated tyrosine after light activation in the presence of potassium iodide. Bacteria are killed by photoactivation of tetracyclines in the absence of oxygen. Since topical tetracyclines are already used clinically, blue light activation may increase the bactericidal effect.

Indexed as

LightAnti-Bacterial AgentsBacteriaPhotochemotherapyPhotosensitizing AgentsTetracyclinesAnti-Bacterial AgentsPhotosensitizing AgentsTetracyclinesantimicrobial photodynamic inactivationbacteriaphotochemical mechanismspotassium iodidesinglet oxygentetracyclines

Identifiers

PMID31544504
PMCPMC6785754
OpenAlexW2974758152

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.