Microbial Biofilm Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
Healthcare Associated Infection Research Group, Section of Molecular Gastroenterology, Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2018;1050:97-115. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-72799-8_7.
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an important healthcare-associated disease worldwide, mainly occurring after antimicrobial therapy. Antibiotics administered to treat a number of infections can promote C. difficile colonization of the gastrointestinal tract and, thus, CDI. A rise in multidrug resistant clinical isolates to multiple antibiotics and their reduced susceptibility to the most commonly used antibiotic molecules have made the treatment of CDI more complicated, allowing the persistence of C. difficile in the intestinal environment.Gut colonization and biofilm formation have been suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis and persistence of C. difficile. In fact, biofilm growth is considered as a serious threat because of the related increase in bacterial resistance that makes antibiotic therapy often ineffective. However, although the involvement of the C. difficile biofilm in the pathogenesis and recurrence of CDI is attracting more and more interest, the mechanisms underlying biofilm formation of C. difficile as well as the role of biofilm in CDI have not been extensively described.Findings on C. difficile biofilm, possible implications in CDI pathogenesis and treatment, efficacy of currently available antibiotics in treating biofilm-forming C. difficile strains, and some antimicrobial alternatives under investigation will be discussed here.
艰难梭菌感染(CDI)是一种重要的全球医疗保健相关疾病,主要发生在抗生素治疗后。用于治疗许多感染的抗生素会促进艰难梭菌在胃肠道的定植,从而导致 CDI。对多种抗生素的多药耐药临床分离株的增加及其对最常用抗生素分子的敏感性降低,使 CDI 的治疗变得更加复杂,导致艰难梭菌在肠道环境中持续存在。肠道定植和生物膜形成被认为有助于艰难梭菌的发病机制和持续存在。事实上,由于生物膜生长导致细菌耐药性增加,使抗生素治疗常常无效,因此被认为是一个严重的威胁。然而,尽管艰难梭菌生物膜在 CDI 的发病机制和复发中的作用越来越受到关注,但艰难梭菌生物膜形成的机制以及生物膜在 CDI 中的作用尚未得到广泛描述。本文将讨论艰难梭菌生物膜的研究结果、其在 CDI 发病机制和治疗中的可能意义、目前可用抗生素治疗生物膜形成的艰难梭菌菌株的疗效以及正在研究的一些抗菌替代物。