In the Race against Polymicrobial Biofilms: Current Research and New Breakthroughs for the Clinic
A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "The Global Need for Effective Antibiotics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2022) | Viewed by 12646
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biofilms; cistic fibrosis; resistance; pseudomonas
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: polymicrobial biofilms; biomaterial-associated infections; antimicrobial coatings
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The notion that a significant number of persistent human-associated infectious diseases are mediated by biofilms is now widely recognized. Microorganisms within biofilms are generally sheltered against chemical, mechanical, and environmental stresses, exhibiting multiple protective mechanisms and/or altered expression of resistance-/virulence-associated genes due to activation of stress responses and/or adaptation to grow on biotic or abiotic (e.g., medical-device-related) surfaces.
Generally embracing heterogeneous communities spanning different phylogenetic kingdoms, polymicrobial biofilms pose a major threat for the healthcare setting and a considerable risk for patients, by withstanding current antimicrobial treatments and host immune defenses.
A striking characteristic of polymicrobial biofilms is co-habitation (i.e., microorganisms living in close proximity), which has been described to promote complex communication networks (through quorum-sensing), metabolic cooperations and other synergies, in ways that cause outcomes (e.g., virulence, antibiotic therapy, disease progression) worse than those provided by single-species infections. Additionally, those type of infections (polymicrobial) often pave the way for the evolution of antimicrobial resistance and are a common cause of treatment failure, being linked with high mortality rates.
Therefore, managing polymicrobial biofilms still remains a challenge, and it demands identifying, developing, and optimizing clinically relevant strategies aiming at reducing the burden associated with complex biofilm infections.
Because the growing evidence that polymicrobial biofilms govern persistent infections has curbed conventional treatment lanes (e.g., antibiotic therapy) used in the fight against them, the development of alternative effective antimicrobial strategies has been emerging as an important therapeutic route.
This Special Issue is dedicated to increasing our knowledge on the role of polymicrobial biofilms in clinical practice, aiming at advancing the current understanding of the aspects related to those foreign structures and solutions to fight them. Studies that explore the complexity associated to polymicrobial biofilms, namely microbial–microbial and/or host–pathogen interactions, pathogenicity, resistance mechanisms, and that provide new breakthroughs regarding their diagnosis and management are welcome.
In short, this Special Issue aims to provide a platform for researchers to describe, among others, the following subjects:
- Study of microbial–microbial (including multi-kingdom) and microbial–host interactions in the polymicrobial biofilm communities that often govern such infections;
- Current antimicrobial therapies and exploitation of novel therapeutic approaches (e.g., involving antibiotic and/or non-antibiotic strategies; phage therapy) targeting polymicrobial biofilms and aiming to reduce the burden associated with polymicrobial consortia;
- Studies addressing the mechanisms underlying AMR in polymicrobial consortia and their persistent colonization of biotic/non-biotic surfaces;
- Research on the problem of antimicrobial resistance associated with polymicrobial biofilms and ways to counteract its emergence.
Dr. Susana Patrícia Lopes
Dr. Diana Alves
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- antimicrobial resistance
- biofilm
- infection
- interspecies interactions
- polymicrobial consortia
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