Farnesol Emulsion as an Effective Broad-Spectrum Agent against ESKAPE Biofilms

• Main Authors: Li Tan (Author), Rong Ma (Author), Adam J. Katz (Author), Nicole Levi (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.3390/antibiotics13080778; 2079-6382
• Keywords: farnesol; <i>Enterococcus faecium</i>; <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>; <i>Enterobacter cloacae</i>; biofilms; burn wounds; Therapeutics. Pharmacology; RM1-950
• Source: Antibiotics, Vol 13, Iss 8, p 778 (2024)

The family of ESKAPE pathogens is comprised of <i>Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>, and <i>Enterobacter</i>. Together they are the main contributors of nosocomial infections and are well established for their ability to "escape" antibiotics. Farnesol is an FDA-approved cosmetic and flavoring agent with significant anti-biofilm properties. In a proprietary emulsion, farnesol has been shown to be capable of disrupting <i>S. aureus, P. aeruginosa</i>, and <i>A. baumannii</i> biofilms. The current work demonstrates that this farnesol emulsion reduces the number of viable bacteria, while also leading to reductions in biomass, of the other three ESKAPE pathogens: <i>Enterococcus faecium, Klebsiella pneumoniae,</i> and <i>Enterobacter,</i> both in vitro and in an ex vivo human skin model. A concentration of 0.5 mg/mL was effective for impeding biofilm development of all three bacteria, while 1 mg/mL for <i>E. faecium</i> and <i>K. pneumoniae</i>, or 0.2 mg/mL for <i>E. cloacae,</i> was able to kill bacteria in established biofilms. Contrary to antibiotics, no resistance to farnesol was observed for <i>E. faecium</i> or <i>K. pneumoniae</i>. The results indicate that farnesol is effective for direct cell killing and also has the ability to induce biofilm detachment from surfaces, as confirmed using Live/Dead image analysis. Our findings confirm that farnesol emulsion is an effective broad-spectrum agent to impede ESKAPE biofilms.