title: Biofilm-related infections: bridging the gap between clinical management and fundamental aspects of recalcitrance toward antibiotics.
abstract: Surface-associated microbial communities, called biofilms, are present in all environments. Although biofilms play an important positive role in a variety of ecosystems, they also have many negative effects, including biofilm-related infections in medical settings. The ability of pathogenic biofilms to survive in the presence of high concentrations of antibiotics is called "recalcitrance" and is a characteristic property of the biofilm lifestyle, leading to treatment failure and infection recurrence. This review presents our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of biofilm recalcitrance toward antibiotics and describes how recent progress has improved our capacity to design original and efficient strategies to prevent or eradicate biofilm-related infections.
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unité de Génétique des Biofilms, Département de Microbiologie, Paris, France Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, AP-HP, Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades, Centre d'Infectiologie Necker-Pasteur and Institut Imagine, Paris, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lebeaux
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unité de Génétique des Biofilms, Département de Microbiologie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ghigo
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unité de Génétique des Biofilms, Département de Microbiologie, Paris, France cbeloin@pasteur.fr.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beloin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D018441:Biofilms; D055499:Catheter-Related Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D050296:Microbial Viability; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents