posted on 2021-11-23, 13:07authored bySabrina
K. Spicer, Rebecca E. Moore, Jacky Lu, Miriam A. Guevara, Dana R. Marshall, Shannon D. Manning, Steven M. Damo, Steven D. Townsend, Jennifer A. Gaddy
Acinetobacter baumannii is a serious threat to
human health, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
latest threat assessment. A. baumannii is a Gram-negative
opportunistic bacterial pathogen that causes severe community and
nosocomial infections in immunocompromised patients. Treatment of
these infections is confounded by the emergence of multi- and pan-drug
resistant strains of A. baumannii. A. baumannii colonizes abiotic and biotic surfaces and evades antimicrobial challenges
by forming biofilms, which are three-dimensional architectural structures
of cells adhered to a substrate and encased in an extracellular matrix
comprised of polymeric substances such as polysaccharides, proteins,
and DNA. Biofilm-inhibiting compounds have recently gained attention
as a chemotherapeutic strategy to prevent or disperse A. baumannii biofilms and restore the utility of traditional antimicrobial strategies.
Recent work indicates that human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) have
potent antibacterial and biofilm-inhibiting properties. We sought
to test the utility of HMOs against a bank of clinical isolates of A. baumannii to ascertain changes in bacterial growth or
biofilm formation. Our results indicate that out of 18 strains tested,
14 were susceptible to the antibiofilm activities of HMOs, and that
the potent antibiofilm activity was observed in strains isolated from
diverse anatomical sites, disease manifestations, and across antibiotic-resistant
and susceptible strains.