Coenye T, Spittaels KJ, Achermann Y. The role of biofilm formation in the pathogenesis and antimicrobial susceptibility of
Cutibacterium acnes.
Biofilm 2021;
4:100063. [PMID:
34950868 PMCID:
PMC8671523 DOI:
10.1016/j.bioflm.2021.100063]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Revised: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Cutibacterium acnes (previously known as Propionibacterium acnes) is frequently found on lipid-rich parts of the human skin. While C. acnes is most known for its role in the development and progression of the skin disease acne, it is also involved in many other types of infections, often involving implanted medical devices. C. acnes readily forms biofilms in vitro and there is growing evidence that biofilm formation by this Gram-positive, facultative anaerobic micro-organism plays an important role in vivo and is also involved in treatment failure. In this brief review we present an overview on what is known about C. acnes biofilms (including their role in pathogenesis and reduced susceptibility to antibiotics), discuss model systems that can be used to study these biofilms in vitro and in vivo and give an overview of interspecies interactions occurring in polymicrobial communities containing C. acnes.
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