Microbial biofilms are a major cause of chronic, persistent infections and represent an important therapeutic challenge due to their tolerance to antimicrobials and to the immune system. Physical removal of the biofilm, when possible and/or repeated administration of conventional antibiotics are the main therapeutic choices and in spite of intensive research in the last 20 years, few new therapeutic options are available clinically.
Several anti-biofilm strategies have been proposed targeting the different stages of biofilm formation and development, such as for example the adherence to surfaces, the cell-signaling systems, the exopolysaccharide structure, enhancing bacterial killing or biofilm dispersal. Many studies showed reduction or alteration of biofilm formation in vitro but there are few results validating the in vitro data in in vivo animal or human cell models to see that these effects translate to clinical significance.
The scope of this article collection is to gather innovative anti-biofilm approaches that have been shown to be effective in in vivo-related conditions.
We are interested in papers presenting results of new strategies for prevention of biofilm formation, new strategies for administration of the antimicrobial compounds to control in situ drug delivery, new strategies enhancing the activity of conventional antibiotics, new biofilm dispersing strategies that have been validated in preclinical, animal models or human-relevant cell lines models.
Microbial biofilms are a major cause of chronic, persistent infections and represent an important therapeutic challenge due to their tolerance to antimicrobials and to the immune system. Physical removal of the biofilm, when possible and/or repeated administration of conventional antibiotics are the main therapeutic choices and in spite of intensive research in the last 20 years, few new therapeutic options are available clinically.
Several anti-biofilm strategies have been proposed targeting the different stages of biofilm formation and development, such as for example the adherence to surfaces, the cell-signaling systems, the exopolysaccharide structure, enhancing bacterial killing or biofilm dispersal. Many studies showed reduction or alteration of biofilm formation in vitro but there are few results validating the in vitro data in in vivo animal or human cell models to see that these effects translate to clinical significance.
The scope of this article collection is to gather innovative anti-biofilm approaches that have been shown to be effective in in vivo-related conditions.
We are interested in papers presenting results of new strategies for prevention of biofilm formation, new strategies for administration of the antimicrobial compounds to control in situ drug delivery, new strategies enhancing the activity of conventional antibiotics, new biofilm dispersing strategies that have been validated in preclinical, animal models or human-relevant cell lines models.
