Recent advances to combat ESKAPE pathogens with special reference to essential oils

Sujogya Kumar Panda; Silvia Buroni; Shasank Sekhar Swain; Andrea Bonacorsi; Erika Alves da Fonseca Amorim; Mukta Kulshrestha; Luis Cláudio Nascimento da Silva; Vishvanath Tiwari

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.1029098

Recent advances to combat ESKAPE pathogens with special reference to essential oils

Front Microbiol. 2022 Dec 6:13:1029098. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1029098. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Sujogya Kumar Panda¹, Silvia Buroni², Shasank Sekhar Swain³, Andrea Bonacorsi², Erika Alves da Fonseca Amorim⁴, Mukta Kulshrestha⁵, Luis Cláudio Nascimento da Silva⁴, Vishvanath Tiwari⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre of Environment Studies, Climate Change and Public Health, RUSA 2.0, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
² Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
³ Division of Microbiology and Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
⁴ Laboratory of Microbial Pathogenesis, Universidade Ceuma, São Luís, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India.

Abstract

Biofilm-associated bacteria, especially ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.), are a serious challenge worldwide. Due to the lack of discovery of novel antibiotics, in the past two decades, it has become necessary to search for new antibiotics or to study synergy with the existing antibiotics so as to counter life-threatening infections. Nature-derived compounds/based products are more efficient than the chemically synthesized ones with less resistance and lower side effects. In this descriptive review, we discuss the most promising therapeutics for the treatment of ESKAPE-related biofilms. The first aspect includes different types of natural agents [botanical drugs, essential oils (EOs), antimicrobial peptides, bacteriophages, and endolysins] effective against ESKAPE pathogens. The second part of the review deals with special references to EOs/essential oil components (EOCs) (with some exclusive examples), mode of action (via interfering in the quorum-sensing pathways, disruption of biofilm and their inhibitory concentrations, expression of genes that are involved, other virulence factors), existing in literature so far. Moreover, different essential oils and their major constituents were critically discussed using in vivo models to target ESKAPE pathogens along with the studies involving existing antibiotics.

Keywords: ESKAPE; antibiotics; biofilm; essential oils; quorum-sensing; synergy; toxicity.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

SB was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) (Dipartimenti di Eccellenza, Program 2018–2022) to Department of Biology and Biotechnology, “L. Spallanzani”, University of Pavia (SB) and by the FWO Biofilm community (W000921N). EF receives a scholarship from Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination (CAPES-Brazil) and LS has research productivity grant from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq–Brazil). VT would like to thank the Indian Council of Medical Research, India (ICMR/AMR/Adhoc/291/2022-ECD-II) for funding.