Cefepime is a semi-synthetic, broad-spectrum, fourth-generation cephalosporin antibiotic that was patented in 1982 by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Cefepime is bactericidal against a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, disrupting bacterial cell wall synthesis. Cefepime is a zwitterion with a net neutral charge which crosses the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacilli more rapidly than other cephalosporins. It appears to be intrinsically more resistant to hydrolysis by β-lactamases and is commonly used in antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
Cefepime is sparingly soluble in water.
We also offer:
- Cefepime Hydrochloride (C009)
| Mechanism of Action | Like β-lactams, cephalosporins interfere with penicillin binding protein (PBP) activity involved in the final phase of peptidoglycan synthesis. PBP’s catalyze a pentaglycine crosslink between alanine and lysine residues providing additional strength to the cell wall. Without a pentaglycine crosslink, the integrity of the cell wall is severely compromised and ultimately leads to cell lysis and death. Resistance to cephalosporins is commonly due to cells containing plasmid-encoded β-lactamases. Interestingly, cefepime is resistant to various β-lactamases encoded by otherwise resistant β-lactam bacteria strains. |
| Spectrum | Cefepime is a broad-spectrum antibiotic targeting a wide variety of naturally antibiotic resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Some of these naturally resistant bacteria include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. |
| Microbiology Applications | Cefepime is commonly used in clinical in vitro microbiological antimicrobial susceptibility tests (panels, discs, and MIC strips) against Gram -positive and Gram-negative microbial isolates. Medical microbiologists use AST results to recommend antibiotic treatment options.
Cefepime was used in a MALDI-TOF MS-based direct-on-target microdroplet growth assay as part of a screening panel for rapid detection of ESBL, and AmpC β-Lactamases in Enterobacterales (Correa-Martinez et al, 2019). |
| Cancer Research Applications | Cefepime (50mM) was mixed with 8 different metal salts (copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, cadmium, chromium, iron, and manganese ) in a 1:1 ratio and evaluated for proteasome-inhibitory and anti-proliferative properties using MDA-MB 231 human breast cancer cells. The complex with manganese had the highest inhibition of cell proliferation and proteasome activity. The complex induced apoptosis in a dose-and time-dependent manner and has the potential for use as an antitumor agent (Zhang et al, 2015). |
| Molecular Formula | C19H24N6O5S2 |
| References |
Georgopapadakou NH and Bertasso A (1993) Mechanisms of action of cephalosporin 3'-quinolone esters, carbamates, and tertiary amines in Escherichia coli. Antimicrob. Agents. Chemother. 37(3):559-565 Zhang Z, Bi C, Fan Y, Wang H and Bao Y (2015) Cefepime, a fourth-generation cephalosporin, in complex with manganese, inhibits proteasome activity and induces the apoptosis of human breast cancer cells. Int. J. Molec. Med. 36(4): 1143-1150 Cefepime (TOKU-E) Correa-Martinez C, Idelevich EA, Sparbier K, Kostrzewa M, and Becker K (2019) Rapid detection of extended-spectrum B-lactamases (ESBL) and AmpC B-Lactamases in Enterobacterales: Development of a screening panel using the MALDI-TOF MS-based direct-on-target microdroplet growth assay. Front. Microbiol. 10:13 PMID 30733710 |
| MIC | Aeromonas spp.| 0.03 － 0.06|| Aeromonas spp. (ampicillin-resistant + cefazolin-resistant)| 0.03 － 8|| Agrobacterium radiobacter| 1 － 8|| Alcaligenes faecalis| 0.25 － >64|| Bacillus cereus (RK-75)| 62.5|| Bacillus dipsauri| 7.81|| Bacillus flexus| 125|| Bacillus sphaericus| 31.25|| Bacillus spp.| >32|| Bacteroides distasonis | 16 － >32|| Bacteroides fragilis | 32 － >64|| Bacteroides melaninogenicus | 16 － >32|| Bacteroides ovatus | 16 － >32|| Bacteroides septicum | 16 － >32|| Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron | 16 － >32|| Bordetella bronchiseptica| 0.25 － 64|| Brevibacillus agri| 125|| Brevundimonas vesicularis| 0.25 － 32|| Burkholderia cepacia| ≤0.06 － >256|| Burkholderia spp.| 4 － 32|| Campylobacter jejuni| 0.5 － 8|| Chryseobacterium indologenes| ≤0.06 － 16|| Chryseobacterium meningosepticum| 8 － 64|| Chryseomonas luteola| 31.25|| Citrobacter amalonaticus| ≤0.12 － 31.25|| Citrobacter braakii| ≤0.12 － >16|| Citrobacter diversus| 0.015 － >16|| Citrobacter farmeri| ≤0.12 － >16|| Citrobacter freundii| 0.015 － 64|| Citrobacter koseri| ≤0.06 － >16|| Citrobacter spp.| ≤0.12 － >16|| Clostridium perfringens| 0.5 － >16|| Comamonas acidovorans| 8 － >64|| Corynebacterium ammoniagenes| 7.81|| Corynebacterium cystitidis| 7.81|| Corynebacterium flavescens| 7.81|| Corynebacterium spp.| 0.06 － >32|| Enterobacter aerogenes| ≤0.06 － ≥64|| Enterobacter agglomerans| ≤0.25 － 0.5|| Enterobacter amnigenus| ≤0.12 － >16|| Enterobacter asburiae| ≤0.12 － >16|| Enterobacter cancerogenus| ≤0.12 － >16|| Enterobacter cloacae| 0.015 － ≥64|| Enterobacter gergoviae| ≤0.12 － >16|| Enterobacter hormaechei| ≤0.12 － >16|| Enterobacter intermedius| 0.12 － 31.25|| Enterobacter sakazakii| ≤0.12 － >16|| Enterobacter taylorae| ≤0.12 － >16|| Enterobacteriaceae| ≤0.12 － 64|| Enterococcus faecalis| 0.5 － >128|| Enterococcus faecium| ≤0.12 － >128|| Erwinia carotovora| 7.81|| Escherichia coli| ≤0.007 － 128|| Exiguobacterium acetylicum| 7.81|| Flavimonas oryzihabitans| 15.6|| Flavobacterium balustinum (HH299)| 31.25|| Haemophilus influenzae| 0.003 － 8|| Klebsiella ornithinolytica| 0.12 － >16|| Klebsiella oxytoca (ampicillin-resistant)| 0.03 － 8|| Klebsiella ozaenae| ≤0.12 － >16|| Klebsiella pneumonia| ≤0.007 － >256|| Klebsiella spp.| 0.015 － >16|| Klebsiella terrigena| ≤0.12 － >16|| Kocuria rosea| 31.25|| Listeria monocytogenes| 4 － 64|| Micrococcus spp.| 0.094 - 0.19|| Moraxella catarrhalis| ≤0.03 － 8|| Morganella morganii| 0.015 － >32|| Morganella spp.| ≤0.25 － 64|| Ochrobactrum anthropi| 8 － ≥128|| Oligella ureolytica| 0.25 － >64|| Paenibacillus apiarius| 62.5|| Pantoea agglomerans| 7.81|| Pasteurella multocida| <2|| Proteae spp.| ≤0.12 － >16|| Proteus mirabilis| 0.015 － >128|| Proteus rettgeri| ≤0.25 － >32|| Proteus spp.| ≤0.06 － 32|| Proteus vulgaris| 0.015 － 62.5|| Providencia rettgeri| 0.03 － 8|| Providencia spp.| ≤0.06 － 64|| Providencia stuartii| 0.03 － 4|| Pseudomonas aeruginosa| 0.06 - >256 || Pseudomonas cepacia (ampicillin-resistant + cefazolin-resistant)| 0.12 － 64|| Pseudomonas oryzihabitans| ≤0.06 － >64|| Pseudomonas stutzeri| ≤0.06 － >64|| Pseudomonas syringae| 31.25 － 62.5|| Psychrobacter immobilis| 15.6|| Ralstonia pickettii | 1 － 4|| Salmonella| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella agona| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella bareilly| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella enterica| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella enteritidis| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella hadar| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella heidelberg| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella infantis| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella litchfield| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella Montevideo| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella muenchen| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella Newport| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella panama| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella Paratyphi| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella schwarzengrund| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella spp.| 0.015 － 0.5|| Salmonella stanley| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella stpaul| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella thompson| ≤0.12 － 2|| Salmonella typhi| 0.015 － 125|| Salmonella virchow| ≤0.12 － 2|| Serratia fonticola| ≤0.12 － >16|| Serratia liquefaciens| ≤0.12 － 62.5|| Serratia marcescens| 0.03 - 128|| Serratia odorifera| ≤0.12 － >16|| Serratia plymuthica| ≤0.12 － >16|| Serratia rubidaea| ≤0.12 － >16|| Shigella boydii| ≤0.12 － 1|| Shigella dysenteriae| ≤0.12 －15.6|| Shigella flexneri| ≤0.12 － 1|| Shigella sonnei| 0.015 － 1|| Shigella spp.| 0.015 － 1|| Sphingomonas spp.| 2 － 16|| Staphylococcus aureus| 0.125 － >128|| Staphylococcus auricularis (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Staphylococcus capitis (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Staphylococcus caprae (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Staphylococcus cohnii| ≤0.12 － 7.81|| Staphylococcus epidermidis| 0.03 － 128|| Staphylococcus haemolyticus| ≤0.12 － 128|| Staphylococcus hominis| ≤0.12 － >128|| Staphylococcus intermedius (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Staphylococcus lugdunensis (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Staphylococcus mitis| 0.015 － 4|| Staphylococcus sanguis| ≤0.007 － 0.5|| Staphylococcus saprophyticus| ≤0.12 － >64|| Staphylococcus sciuri (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Staphylococcus simulans| ≤0.12 － 16|| Staphylococcus spp. (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Staphylococcus warneri (coagulase-negative + oxacillin-susceptible)| ≤0.12 － 8|| Stenotrophomonas maltophilia| 1 － 128|| Streptococcus agalactiae| 0.015 － 0.12|| Streptococcus dysgalactiae| ≤0.12 － 0.5|| Streptococcus equisimilis | ≤0.12 － 0.5|| Streptococcus pneumonia| ≤0.007 － >8|| Streptococcus pyogenes| 0.015 － 0.12|| Streptococcus spp.| ≤0.12 － 0.5|| Weeksella virosa | 0.5 － 16|| Xanthomonas maltophilia| 2 － >64|| Yersinia enterocolitica| 0.015 － 0.25|| |
