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Review
. 2023 Sep 26;10(11):233-247.
doi: 10.15698/mic2023.11.807. eCollection 2023 Nov 6.

Biofilm tolerance, resistance and infections increasing threat of public health

Shanshan Yang  1   2 , Xinfei Li  1   3 , Weihe Cang  1   3 , Delun Mu  1   2 , Shuaiqi Ji  1   2 , Yuejia An  1 , Rina Wu  1   3   2 , Junrui Wu  1   3   2
Affiliations
Review

Biofilm tolerance, resistance and infections increasing threat of public health

Shanshan Yang et al. Microb Cell. .

Abstract

Microbial biofilms can cause chronic infection. In the clinical setting, the biofilm-related infections usually persist and reoccur; the main reason is the increased antibiotic resistance of biofilms. Traditional antibiotic therapy is not effective and might increase the threat of antibiotic resistance to public health. Therefore, it is urgent to study the tolerance and resistance mechanism of biofilms to antibiotics and find effective therapies for biofilm-related infections. The tolerance mechanism and host reaction of biofilm to antibiotics are reviewed, and bacterial biofilm related diseases formed by human pathogens are discussed thoroughly. The review also explored the role of biofilms in the development of bacterial resistance mechanisms and proposed therapeutic intervention strategies for biofilm related diseases.

Keywords: biofilm; diseases; intervention; resistance; tolerance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. FIGURE 1: Four stages of biofilm formation.
Biofilm-formation can be divided into four stages: attachment (a), proliferation (b), maturation (c), and dispersion (d).
Figure 2
Figure 2. FIGURE 2: The mechanisms of antimicrobial tolerance of a biofilm.
Modified from Ciofu [8]. This diagram shows three known mechanisms of antimicrobial drug tolerance: metabolic heterogeneity, impaired permeability, and adaptive responses to stress and antibiotics.
Figure 3
Figure 3. FIGURE 3: Development of antimicrobial resistance in planktonic bacteria and biofilm bacteria.
Modified from Ciofu [8].
Figure 4
Figure 4. FIGURE 4:
Diseases associated with bacterial biofilms.
Figure 5
Figure 5. FIGURE 5: The mechanism of QQ for biofilm infection.
(A) Phage-derived enzymes that degrade extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of biofilms (B). Modified from Azeredo [128].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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