Blue light is a multi-purpose antibiotic adjuvant that synergizes with conventional antibiotic therapy

Antimicrobial resistance has necessitated the investigation of novel approaches to prolong the use of conventional antibiotics. We hypothesized that using the innovative ‘drug-free’ approach, antimicrobial blue light (aBL), which is a selective generator of ROS in bacteria, we can exploit increases in intracellular ROS to synergize to conventional antibiotics, given that they share a parallel pathway of bactericidal activity. Studies from our group have also suggested the adjuvant potential of aBL that may further promote the effectiveness of antibiotics. Here, we explored the synergistic and adjuvant effects of aBL using different antibiotic classes against bacteria, in vitro and in vivo.