Immobilised antimicrobial peptides in downregulation of biofilm.

ABSTRACT

Colonisation of sessile bacterial species on biotic and abiotic surfaces is responsible for the development of various infections in humans. At present, biofilm-associated chronic infections have been a prime concern among the healthcare practitioners since they are impermeable to drugs, resulting in the development of antibiotic resistance or multi-drug resistance. For a few decades, a lot of research activity has been performed in the development of alternative therapeutics to combat biofilm-associated chronic infections. The presence of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) prevents the permeation of most of the drugs rendering drug failures. The use of small molecules has been necessary to penetrate easily through the EPS and act on the targeted cells. In present days, the use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) has gained immense importance as alternative therapeutics since they exhibit a novel class of antibiotics exhibiting a wide spectrum of activity and possess a low rate of development of resistance. In the last few decades, a large number of AMPs have been identified from varied groups of organisms as effector molecules for innate immune system acting as an important line of defence. In this review, we will discuss the use of AMPs as effective agents to combat various biofilm-associated chronic infections.