Polyether antibiotics also referred to as carboxyl polyethers, are a unique class of compounds with outstanding potency against a variety of infectious diseases including protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. They are believed to affect the permeability of the cellular membrane to their target cells through modification of cationic metal species. Polyether ionophores possess distinctive structural features that are important to interact with metal species. Many polyether ionophores possess potent antimicrobial activity and a few have the ability to target aggressive cells.
Polyether antibiotics (polyether ionophores antibiotics) group consists of natural, biologically active substances produced by Streptomyces spp species. Moreover, polyether antibiotics have antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antiviral, and tumor cell cytotoxicity properties. They are majorly used to control coccidiosis. Polyether antibiotics are used to control coccidiosis in poultry and to promote growth and increase feed efficiency in ruminants. They are also used as feed additives to increase feed efficiency and weight gain of beef and dairy cattle.
Thus, with the increasing consumption of milk, beef, and other food products, high demand for pork and poultry meat, and high demand for livestock, the demand for polyether antibiotics is also increasing with a rapid pace. Unsurprisingly, there is a high demand for poultry and an estimated 8 billion chickens are consumed over the course of a year in the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2018, 65.2 pounds of chicken per person were available for Americans to eat, compared to 54.6 pounds of beef.
There are several drugs in the polyether antibiotics categories such as monensin and Salinomycin. Lasalocid (Avatec, Bovatec), narasin (Monteban, Maxiban), monensin (Coban, Rumensin, and Coxidin), maduramycin (Cygro), laidlomycin (Cattlyst), salinomycin (Bio-cox, Sacox), and semduramycin (Aviax) are some commercially available polyether antibiotics. Recently, it has been shown that some of these compounds are able to selectively kill cancer stem cells and multidrug-resistant cancer cells.
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