title: Novel approaches to combat bacterial biofilms.
abstract: Biofilms formed by pathogenic bacteria and fungi are associated with a wide range of diseases, from device-related infections (such as catheters or prosthetic joints) to chronic infections occurring on native tissues (such as lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients). Biofilms are therefore responsible for an important medical and economic burden. Currently used antibiotics have mostly been developed to target exponentially growing microorganisms and are poorly effective against biofilms. In particular, even high concentrations of bactericidal antibiotics are inactive against a subset of persistent biofilm bacteria, which can cause infection recurrence despite prolonged treatments. While the search for a magic bullet antibiotic effective against both planktonic and biofilm bacteria is still active, alternative preventive and curative approaches are currently being developed either limiting adhesion or biofilm formation or targeting biofilm tolerance by killing persister bacteria. Most of these approaches are adjunctive using new molecules in combination with antibiotics. This review presents promising approaches or strategies that could improve our ability to prevent or eradicate bacterial biofilms in medical settings.
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unité de Génétique des Biofilms, Département de Microbiologie, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beloin
authors.affiliation: Sanofi R&D, 195 route d'Espagne, 31036 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Renard
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unité de Génétique des Biofilms, Département de Microbiologie, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ghigo
authors.affiliation: Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, AP-HP, Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades, Centre d'Infectiologie Necker-Pasteur and Institut Imagine, Paris, France. Electronic address: david.lebeaux@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lebeaux
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents