6 Conclusion and Prospective Studies
Conventional therapies are insufficient to treat MRSA infection, and are
even likely to weaken host immunity. TM therapies can regulate the
host’s immune responses independently to combat MRSA infection. The
combination of two therapies is a promising strategy and may display
greater efficacy in bacterial infection treatment (Table. 2).
What conditions can combination therapy be used for? Generally,
combination therapy can be used to prevent MRSA infection in specific
populations. For HA-MRSA patients, especially permanent users of medical
devices, removing contaminated devices may lead to the risk of bacterial
infection. Combination therapy can reduce this risk. For the population
with weakened immune systems, such as neonates and the elder. TM
therapies can enhance their immunity. For patients with congenital and
acquired diseases caused by impaired neutrophils number and function,
combination therapy can increase the number and function of neutrophils[150]. Combination therapy can also prevent MRSA
colonization. It can also be used for the treatment of MRSA infection.
It can treat patients with low immunity who are infected by
MRSA[68, 86, 145]. Additionally, combination
therapy is a promising therapy for MRSA-BF infection[5, 6, 12].
Current findings have confirmed the synergistic effects of combination
therapy [7, 8, 85]. However, most of these studies
were performed in vitro and in animal models. Few clinical
studies have been performed. Moreover, the corresponding mechanisms of
combination therapy are not revealed. Real-world, multiple-center,
international large-sample randomized controlled clinical trials should
be conducted. In these trials, populations of different ethnicities are
enrolled, and internationally unified efficacy evaluation standards and
evaluation norms are adopted, which will aid the global recognition of
this research. Network pharmacology techniques based on big data and
multi-omics integration analysis approaches have marked advantages for
revealing the mechanism of action of these herbs and formulae by
integrating and analyzing the relationships among proteins, genes and
metabolites. In summary, combination therapy is a promising
immunotherapy strategy for MRSA infection, and the mechanisms need to be
further elucidated.