Fighting Biofilm Bearing Microbes, Global Challenges, Initiatives, and Current Novel Therapeutics/ Antibiofilm Strategies: A Narrative Scientific Record

Abstract

Microbial survival against diverse anti-biocidal agents has advanced beyond single organism interaction into intricate sessile cells consisting of dynamic three-dimensional extracellular complex matrix of water channels. Such complex architecture is built with heterogeneous and variable components that encourage failure of antimicrobial-chemotherapeutic strides especially among biofilm bearing/expressing microbes (BBM). This is a noteworthy public health concern as such occurrence has welcomed global attention in recent times with focus on fighting BBM as well as exploration of novel therapeutic strategies. A narrative scientific description of biofilm as a community of microbes wrapped in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was reviewed. The challenges of disease/infection recalcitrance, the risk to public health, and the necessity to develop novel therapeutics for the management/control and suppression of biofilm-linked infections were emphasized. It also summarized potential approaches including the use of antibiofilm/anti-adhesion agents, antimicrobial proteins, aptamers, nano-particulates, quorum sensing inhibitors, and peptide or protein-based nucleic acids while discussing the agents’ efficient potential ability. Such antibiofilm agents/mechanisms and their target-specific therapeutic relevance promise a future for the management/control of biofilm-associated microbial infections. Its application may also herald a generational effective combination therapy against illnesses/infections caused by BBM and serve as a potential source for BBM global control.

Received: 24 February 2024 | Revised: 15 April 2024 | Accepted: 22 May 2024

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support this work are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Author Contribution Statement

Bright E. Igere: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration. Morenike O. Adeola: Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Project administration.