Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a relevant topic nowadays, representing one of the main causes of infection-related mortality and morbidity at a global level. This phenomenon is worrisome and represents an area of interest for both clinical practice and fundamental research. One important mechanism whereby bacteria acquire resistance to antibiotics and evade the immune system is by forming biofilms. It is estimated that ~80% of the bacteria producing chronic infections can form biofilms. During the process of biofilm formation microorganisms have the ability to communicate with each other through quorum sensing. Quorum sensing regulates the metabolic activity of planktonic cells, and it can induce microbial biofilm formation and increased virulence. In this review we describe the biofilm formation process, quorum sensing, quorum quenching, several key infectious bacteria producing biofilm, methods of prevention and their challenges and limitations. Although progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of biofilm-driven infections, new strategies are required and have to be further developed.
Highlights
Bacterial biofilm is produced by ~80% of bacteria responsible for chronic infections and it is an important virulence mechanism, inducing resistance to antimicrobials and evasion from the host’s immune system[1]
Based on the National Institute of Health (NIH)’s statistics, biofilm formation is present in about 65% of all bacterial infections and approximately 80% of all chronic infections (Table 1)[30,31]
In Staphylococcus aureus quorum sensing signals are stringently regulated by the accessory gene regulator or agr which is associated with autoinducing peptide (AIP) secretion
Summary
Biofilms enable bacteria to survive in specific environments, confer resistance or tolerance to treatment and the capacity to evade the host immune system. They represent a challenge in prevention and treatment of infections. It is important to better understand how it can be prevented and managed and to develop effective targeted therapies. New anti-biofilm strategies are required and have to be further developed. These new treatments have to present high specificity, low toxicity on normal eukaryotic cells and host microbiota and be efficient in treating infection caused by the biofilmcausing organisms
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