Carlo Brouwer, Mick M Welling, Saleh Alwasel, Teun Boekhout
{"title":"Potential health benefits of lactoferrin and derived peptides - how to qualify as a medical device?","authors":"Carlo Brouwer, Mick M Welling, Saleh Alwasel, Teun Boekhout","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2025.2466465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1040841X.2025.2466465","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>ABSTRACTsLactoferrin (LF) is a glycoprotein, a member of the transferrin family, and is present in a variety of secretory fluids, including milk, saliva, tears, and mucosal secretions. Iron binding, immunological regulation, antibacterial action, and intestinal nutrition absorption are only a few of its important biological roles. Although much research has been done on human lactoferrin (hLF), LF derived from different animals is equally essential for physiology and health. Depending on the intended application and mechanism of action, goods containing LF and its peptide derivatives may be classified as medical devices under FDA rules or EU Directives. For EU and FDA regulations, a product may be categorized as a medical device if it primarily provides antimicrobial or health advantages. However, LFs are not considered as medical device when used as a food addition or supplement without particular medicinal claims. Safety and efficacy data are examined for regulatory approval in this category to guarantee its appropriate usage and usefulness in clinical settings. When utilized in various medicinal applications, including wound healing, gastrointestinal problems, and immune system stimulation, the complex nature and potential health advantages of LFs and their derivatives would be consistent with their categorization as a class II medical device. The role of LFs of several species (especially cameloids) is discussed in this paper as biological products with particular biological activities and intended medical applications, where LF satisfies the requirements to be classified as a class II medical device.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143440044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pearl John, Srineevas Sriram, Chandresh Palanichamy, P T Subash, C Sudandiradoss
{"title":"A multifarious bacterial surface display: potential platform for biotechnological applications.","authors":"Pearl John, Srineevas Sriram, Chandresh Palanichamy, P T Subash, C Sudandiradoss","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2025.2461054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1040841X.2025.2461054","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacterial-cell surface display represents a novel field of protein engineering, which is grounds for presenting recombinant proteins or peptides on the surface of host cells. This technique is primarily used for endowing cellular activity on the host cells and enables several biotechnological applications. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the speciality of bacterial surface display, specifically in gram-positive and gram-negative organisms and then we depict the practical cases to show the importance of bacterial cell surface display in biomedicine and bioremediation domains. We manifest that among other display systems such as phages and ribosomes, the cell surface display using bacterial cells can be used to avoid the loss of combinatorial protein libraries and also open the possibility of isolating target-binding variants using high-throughput selection platforms. Thus, it is becoming a robust tool for functionalizing microbes to serve as a potential implement for various bioengineering purposes.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"1-26"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143432504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Current developments and prospects of the antibiotic delivery systems.","authors":"Kusum Kharga, Shubhang Jha, Tanvi Vishwakarma, Lokender Kumar","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2321480","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2321480","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Antibiotics have remained the cornerstone for the treatment of bacterial infections ever since their discovery in the twentieth century. The uproar over antibiotic resistance among bacteria arising from genome plasticity and biofilm development has rendered current antibiotic therapies ineffective, urging the development of innovative therapeutic approaches. The development of antibiotic resistance among bacteria has further heightened the clinical failure of antibiotic therapy, which is often linked to its low bioavailability, side effects, and poor penetration and accumulation at the site of infection. In this review, we highlight the potential use of siderophores, antibodies, cell-penetrating peptides, antimicrobial peptides, bacteriophages, and nanoparticles to smuggle antibiotics across impermeable biological membranes to achieve therapeutically relevant concentrations of antibiotics and combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We will discuss the general mechanisms <i>via</i> which each delivery system functions and how it can be tailored to deliver antibiotics against the paradigm of mechanisms underlying antibiotic resistance.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"44-83"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139995820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Botanicals as promising antimicrobial agents for enhancing oral health: a comprehensive review.","authors":"Ekta Narwal, Jairam Choudhary, Manoj Kumar, Ryszard Amarowicz, Sunil Kumar, Radha, Deepak Chandran, Sangram Dhumal, Surinder Singh, Marisennayya Senapathy, Sureshkumar Rajalingam, Muthamilselvan Muthukumar, Mohamed Mekhemar","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2321489","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2321489","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The mouth houses the second largest diversity of microorganisms in the body, harboring more than 700 bacterial species colonizing the soft mucosa and hard tooth surfaces. Microbes are the cause of several health-related problems, such as dental carries, gingivitis, periodontitis, etc., in the mouth across different age groups and socioeconomic/demographic groups. Oral infections are major health problems that affect the standard of living. Compromised oral health is related to chronic conditions and systemic disorders. Microbes responsible for dental caries are acid-producing and aciduric Gram-positive bacteria (Streptococci, Lactobacilli). Gram-negative bacteria (Porphyromonas, Prevotella, Actinobacillus, and Fusobacterium) capable of growing in anaerobic environments are responsible for periodontal diseases. Due to the high prevalence of oral diseases, negative effects associated with the use of antimicrobial agents and increased antibiotic resistance in oral pathogens, suitable alternative methods (effective, economical and safe) to suppress microbes disturbing oral health need to be adopted. Side effects associated with the chemical antimicrobial agents are vomiting, diarrhea and tooth staining. Several researchers have studied the antimicrobial properties of plant extracts and phytochemicals and have used them as indigenous practices to control several infections. Therefore, phytochemicals extracted from plants can be suitable alternatives. This review focuses on the various phytochemical/plant extracts suppressing the growth of oral pathogens either by preventing their attachment to the surfaces or by preventing biofilm formation or other mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"84-107"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140305140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asrar Ahmad Malik, Mohd Shariq, Javaid Ahmad Sheikh, Sheeba Zarin, Yashika Ahuja, Haleema Fayaz, Anwar Alam, Nasreen Z Ehtesham, Seyed E Hasnain
{"title":"Activation of the lysosomal damage response and selective autophagy: the coordinated actions of galectins, TRIM proteins, and CGAS-STING1 in providing immunity against <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>.","authors":"Asrar Ahmad Malik, Mohd Shariq, Javaid Ahmad Sheikh, Sheeba Zarin, Yashika Ahuja, Haleema Fayaz, Anwar Alam, Nasreen Z Ehtesham, Seyed E Hasnain","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2321494","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2321494","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autophagy is a crucial immune defense mechanism that controls the survival and pathogenesis of <i>M. tb</i> by maintaining cell physiology during stress and pathogen attack. The E3-Ub ligases (PRKN, SMURF1, and NEDD4) and autophagy receptors (SQSTM1, TAX1BP1, CALCOCO2, OPTN, and NBR1) play key roles in this process. Galectins (LGALSs), which bind to sugars and are involved in identifying damaged cell membranes caused by intracellular pathogens such as <i>M. tb</i>, are essential. These include LGALS3, LGALS8, and LGALS9, which respond to endomembrane damage and regulate endomembrane damage caused by toxic chemicals, protein aggregates, and intracellular pathogens, including <i>M. tb</i>. They also activate selective autophagy and <i>de novo</i> endolysosome biogenesis. LGALS3, LGALS9, and LGALS8 interact with various components to activate autophagy and repair damage, while CGAS-STING1 plays a critical role in providing immunity against <i>M. tb</i> by activating selective autophagy and producing type I IFNs with antimycobacterial functions. STING1 activates cGAMP-dependent autophagy which provides immunity against various pathogens. Additionally, cytoplasmic surveillance pathways activated by ds-DNA, such as inflammasomes mediated by NLRP3 and AIM2 complexes, control <i>M. tb</i>. Modulation of E3-Ub ligases with small regulatory molecules of LGALSs and TRIM proteins could be a novel host-based therapeutic approach for controlling TB.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"108-127"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140101199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluation of the antifungal effect of plant extracts on oral <i>Candida</i> spp. - a critical methodological analysis of the last decade.","authors":"M Maziere, J C Andrade, P Rompante, C F Rodrigues","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2326995","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2326995","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>In 2022, the World Health Organization published a report encouraging researchers to focus on <i>Candida</i> spp. to strengthen the global response to fungal oral infections and antifungal resistance. In the context of innovative research, it seems pertinent to investigate the antifungal potential of natural extracts of plants and the methodology involved in the recent reports. The aim of this systematic review is to identify the current state of <i>in vitro</i> research on the evaluation of the ability of plant extracts to inhibit <i>Candida</i> spp.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>A bibliographic search has been developed to on a 10-year period to identify which plant extracts have an antifungal effect on the <i>Candida</i> spp. found in the oral cavity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 20 papers were reviewed and fulfilled all the selection criteria and were included in the full data analysis.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Plants have been tested in a wide range of states - whole extracts, extraction of particular components such as flavonoids or polyphenols, or even using the plant to synthesize nanoparticles. Of forty-five plants tested, five of them did not show any effect against <i>Candida</i> spp., which weren't part of the same family. There is a wide range of plant that exhibit antifungal proprieties.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Many plants have been tested in a wide range of states - whole extracts, extraction of components such as flavonoids or polyphenols, or even using the plant to synthetize nanoparticles. The combination of plants, the addition of plants to a traditional antifungal and the interference with adhesion provided by some plants seem to be promising strategies. Nonetheless, on contrary to drugs, there is a critical lack of standardization on methodologies and protocols, which makes it difficult to compare data and, consequently, to conclude, beyond doubts, about the most promising plants to fight <i>Candida</i> spp. oral infections.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"153-163"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140142879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sajid Iqbal, Farida Begum, Ihsan Ullah, Nasir Jalal, Peter Shaw
{"title":"Peeling off the layers from microbial dark matter (MDM): recent advances, future challenges, and opportunities.","authors":"Sajid Iqbal, Farida Begum, Ihsan Ullah, Nasir Jalal, Peter Shaw","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2319669","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2319669","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbes represent the most common organisms on Earth; however, less than 2% of microbial species in the environment can undergo cultivation for study under laboratory conditions, and the rest of the enigmatic, microbial world remains mysterious, constituting a kind of \"microbial dark matter\" (MDM). In the last two decades, remarkable progress has been made in culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques. More recently, studies of MDM have relied on culture-independent techniques to recover genetic material through either unicellular genomics or shotgun metagenomics to construct single-amplified genomes (SAGs) and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), respectively, which provide information about evolution and metabolism. Despite the remarkable progress made in the past decades, the functional diversity of MDM still remains uncharacterized. This review comprehensively summarizes the recently developed culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques for characterizing MDM, discussing major challenges, opportunities, and potential applications. These activities contribute to expanding our knowledge of the microbial world and have implications for various fields including Biotechnology, Bioprospecting, Functional genomics, Medicine, Evolutionary and Planetary biology. Overall, this review aims to peel off the layers from MDM, shed light on recent advancements, identify future challenges, and illuminate the exciting opportunities that lie ahead in unraveling the secrets of this intriguing microbial realm.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"1-21"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139930392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"<i>Vibrio cholerae</i> virulence and its suppression through the quorum-sensing system.","authors":"Anusree Sajeevan, Thandavarayan Ramamurthy, Adline Princy Solomon","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2320823","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2320823","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Vibrio cholerae</i> is a cholera-causing pathogen known to instigate severe contagious diarrhea that affects millions globally. Survival of vibrios depend on a combination of multicellular responses and adapt to changes that prevail in the environment. This process is achieved through a strong communication at the cellular level, the process has been recognized as quorum sensing (QS). The severity of infection is highly dependent on the QS of vibrios in the gut milieu. The quorum may exist in a low/high cell density (LCD/HCD) state to exert a positive or negative response to control the regulatory pathogenic networks. The impact of this regulation reflects on the transition of pathogenic <i>V. cholerae</i> from the environment to infect humans and cause outbreaks or epidemics of cholera. In this context, the review portrays various regulatory processes and associated virulent pathways, which maneuver and control LCD and HCD states for their survival in the host. Although several treatment options are existing, promotion of therapeutics by exploiting the virulence network may potentiate ineffective antibiotics to manage cholera. In addition, this approach is also useful in resource-limited settings, where the accessibility to antibiotics or conventional therapeutic options is limited.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"22-43"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140027552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yasmin Bano, Abhinav Shrivastava, Piyush Shukla, Anis Ahmad Chaudhary, Salah-Ud-Din Khan, Shahanavaj Khan
{"title":"The implication of microbiome in lungs cancer: mechanisms and strategies of cancer growth, diagnosis and therapy.","authors":"Yasmin Bano, Abhinav Shrivastava, Piyush Shukla, Anis Ahmad Chaudhary, Salah-Ud-Din Khan, Shahanavaj Khan","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2324864","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1040841X.2024.2324864","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Available evidence illustrates that microbiome is a promising target for the study of growth, diagnosis and therapy of various types of cancer. Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The relationship of microbiota and their products with diverse pathologic conditions has been getting large attention. The novel research suggests that the microbiome plays an important role in the growth and progression of lung cancer. The lung microbiome plays a crucial role in maintaining mucosal immunity and synchronizing the stability between tolerance and inflammation. Alteration in microbiome is identified as a critical player in the progression of lung cancer and negatively impacts the patient. Studies suggest that healthy microbiome is essential for effective therapy. Various clinical trials and research are focusing on enhancing the treatment efficacy by altering the microbiome. The regulation of microbiota will provide innovative and promising treatment strategies for the maintenance of host homeostasis and the prevention of lung cancer in lung cancer patients. In the current review article, we presented the latest progress about the involvement of microbiome in the growth and diagnosis of lung cancer. Furthermore, we also assessed the therapeutic status of the microbiome for the management and treatment of lung cancer.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"128-152"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140331582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The diffusible signaling factor family in microbial signaling: a current perspective.","authors":"G K Wijesinghe, A H Nobbs, H M H N Bandara","doi":"10.1080/1040841X.2025.2457670","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1040841X.2025.2457670","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This review discusses the chemical properties, synthesis and detection, and biological functions of a molecular group of cis-2-unsaturated fatty acids, containing fatty acid carbon chains of various lengths and cis double-bond configurations, known as the diffusible signaling factor family (DSFF). Early postulation of the conserved nature of the DSFF among Gram-negative bacteria have now been challenged by the latest evidences that unraveled their presence in a various other distinct microorganisms. Over the last decade, a significant depth and breadth of understanding has been made on the multifaceted functions of DSFFs among bacteria, and their interactions with evolutionarily divergent fungi, plants insects and small animals. While the knowledge of the chemical nature and functions of DSFF within microbial systems is still developing, DSFF molecules such as BDSF, DSF, and SDSF have been found to modulate microbial virulence, cell adhesion, biofilm formation and dispersion, cell motility, and antimicrobial tolerance. Given their capacity to influence microbial ecosystems and the rapid emergence of novel DSFF-like molecules, it is critical to identify the full spectrum of DSFF members and to better understand the functions of this complex messenger system as they offer significant potential to be exploited in the development of new therapeutic strategies to combat the rising global healthcare threat of antimicrobial resistance. This narrative review therefore provides a broad picture of the DSFF quorum sensing with a core foundation built from seminal literature while highlighting the latest developments in the field.</p>","PeriodicalId":10736,"journal":{"name":"Critical Reviews in Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143045510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}