[1] Lysostaphin is a 27 KDa glycylglycine endopeptidase, an antibacterial enzyme which is capable of cleaving the crosslinking pentaglycine bridges found in the cell wall peptidoglycan of certain staphylococci.
Once a staphylococcal biofilm has formed on an implanted medical device, it is difficult to disrupt due to its antibiotic resistance and protection against bacterial action.
[3] Compared to commonly used antibiotics such as vancomycin, lysostaphin has been shown to demonstrate greater antibacterial activity in vitro.
[5] Additionally, it has been shown that lysostaphin combined with antimicrobials such as cefazolin, clarithromycin, doxycycline, levofloxacin, linezolid and quinuprisitin/dalfopristin has a synergistic effect for MSSA strains of the bacteria.
[6] A study published by Belyansky et al. illustrated that a lysostaphin bound mesh demonstrated dramatic preservation results in a rat model.