Publications by authors named "Semih Esin"

Azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) is an emerging worldwide pathogen. Pulmonary aspergillosis primarily affects severely immunocompromised patients and is also a particularly critical condition for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.

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Infections caused by the airborne fungal pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus, are increasing in severity due to growing numbers of immunocompromised individuals and the increasing incidence of antifungal drug resistance, exacerbating treatment challenges. Gallium has proven to be a strong candidate in the fight against microbial pathogens due to its iron-mimicking capability and substitution of Ga(III) in place of Fe(III), disrupting iron-dependent pathways. Since the antimicrobial properties of 2,2'-bipyridine and derivatives have been previously reported, we assessed the in vitro activity and proteomic effects of a recently reported heteroleptic Ga(III) polypyridyl catecholate compound against A.

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Persisters are antibiotic-tolerant bacteria, playing a role in the recalcitrance and relapse of many bacterial infections, including pulmonary infections in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients. Among novel antimicrobial strategies, the use of probiotics and their products is emerging as a particularly promising approach. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-persisters activity of culture filtrate supernatants of (LRM-CFS) against in artificial sputum medium (ASM), which resembles the CF lung environment.

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It is widely agreed that microbial biofilms play a major role in promoting infection and delaying healing of chronic wounds. In the era of microbial resistance, probiotic strains or their metabolic products are emerging as an innovative approach for the treatment of hard-to-heal (chronic) wounds due to their antimicrobial, healing, and host immune-modulatory effects. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential of cell-free supernatants (CFS) from GG against mono- and dual-species biofilms of wound pathogens in a 3D in vitro infection model.

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Bacteriotherapy is emerging as a strategic and effective approach to treat infections by providing putatively harmless bacteria (i.e., probiotics) as antagonists to pathogens.

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Chronic lung infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa play a significant role in the mortality and morbidity of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The widespread bacterial resistance to conventional antimicrobials demands identifying new strategies to complement or replace current antibiotic therapies. In this study, we evaluated the antibacterial, antibiofilm, and antivirulence properties of cell-free supernatants (CFS) from several Lactobacillus probiotic strains against P.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study highlights that culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) remains the best method for diagnosing tuberculosis, but over 40% of samples can't isolate MTB, leaving many infectious cases undetected.
  • Researchers tested two cationic peptides, T14D and TB08L, which can disrupt the mycobacterial membrane, triggering MTB growth and altering its dormant state to a replicative one.
  • The peptides notably improved traditional culture methods, increasing positivity rates by 46% and speeding up results, especially in hard-to-detect sample types like sputum smear-negative and feces.
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The field of probiotic applications is rapidly expanding, including their use for the control of respiratory tract infections. Nevertheless, probiotics ability to colonize the lung environment and to compete with pulmonary pathogens is still a poorly investigated research area. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the adhesion ability of a number of commercial probiotic strains to the human lung epithelial cell line A549.

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Article Synopsis
  • Therapy for lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is difficult due to sticky mucus and bacteria forming biofilms that resist antibiotics.
  • This study investigates the use of probiotic strains, specifically lactobacilli, to thrive in a CF-like environment and influence the growth of harmful bacteria.
  • Findings show that lactobacilli can grow in simulated mucus, inhibit harmful bacteria, reduce biofilm formation, and enhance the effectiveness of antibiotics, suggesting they could be beneficial in treating lung infections in CF patients.
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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe complication of lung injuries, commonly associated with bacterial, fungal and viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2 viral infections. ARDS is strongly correlated with patient mortality and its clinical management is very complex, with no effective treatment presently available. ARDS involves severe respiratory failure, fibrin deposition in both airways and lung parenchyma, with the development of an obstructing hyaline membrane drastically limiting gas exchange.

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The therapeutic efficacy of topically administered drugs, however powerful, is largely affected by their bioavailability and, thus, ultimately, on their aqueous solubility and stability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of ionic liquids (ILs) as functional excipients to solubilise, stabilise, and prolong the ocular residence time of diacerein (DIA) in eye drop formulations. DIA is a poorly soluble and unstable anthraquinone prodrug, rapidly hydrolysed to rhein (Rhe), for the treatment of osteoarthritis.

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Three killer toxins that were previously investigated, one excreted by Kluyveromyces wickerhamii and two by different strains of Wickerhamomyces anomalus, were produced at the pilot scale, lyophilized and characterized, and the formulates were assessed for their zymocidial effect against Brettanomyces bruxellensis spoilage yeast. A comparative analysis allowed the evaluation of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against a sensitive strain. Fungicidal and fungistatic concentrations were used to evaluate the cytocidal effect using a cytofluorimetric approach that confirmed the lethal effect of all lyophilized formulates against spoilage yeasts.

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Objective: It is widely agreed that infection and the formation of biofilms play a major role in increasing inflammation and delaying wound healing. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in vitro, the antimicrobial activity of the wound irrigation solution, Granudacyn (Mölnlycke Health Care AB, Sweden) against planktonic bacteria and mature biofilms of clinically relevant bacterial species.

Method: Quantitative evaluation of bacterial numbers and confocal and/or scanning electron microscopy were used to evaluate the wound irrigation solution's antimicrobial/antibiofilm activity in standard laboratory conditions as well as in a three-dimensional (3D) collagen wound infection model.

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Due to the alarming spread of bacterial resistance to conventional drugs, the sole use of antibiotics to fight lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) is not resolutive, and novel strategies to replace or complement the use of antibiotics are highly desirable. Among these strategies, the use of probiotics is emerging as a particularly attractive approach. Probiotic administration via the oral route has demonstrated an ability to improve lung function and to reduce infection and exacerbation rates in CF patients through mechanisms mainly attributable to the gut-lung axis.

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Olive leaves extract (OLE) has been extensively studied as antioxidant and antibiotic and these characteristics make it particularly interesting for use on wounds. For this reason, the aim of this study was to introduce OLE in microparticles (MP) of hyaluronic acid (MPHA-OLE) or chitosan (MPCs-OLE) to obtain a spray patch for the treatment of wounds in anatomical areas that are difficult to protect with traditional patches. The MP were characterized for particle size and ability to protect OLE from degradation, to absorb water from wound exudate, to control OLE release from MP.

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Despite the considerable progress made in recent years, our understanding of the human immune response to microbial biofilms is still poor. The aim of the present study was to compare the in vitro response of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to biofilms and planktonic cells of and two bacterial species particularly relevant in patients with cystic fibrosis or undergoing endovascular catheterization, respectively. PBMC isolated from healthy donors were co-cultured with 24 h-old biofilms or with exponentially growing cells of both species.

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Traditional fermented foods are obtained by a complex consortium of autochthonous microorganisms producing a wide variety of bioactive compounds, thus representing a reservoir of strains with new functional properties. Here, doughs obtained using five different wholegrain flours were singly fermented with selected yeast strains, which were evaluated for their functional traits. Lactate, volatile fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid isomers produced by fermented doughs were detected by HPLC, while dough anti-inflammatory capacity was measured on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by flow cytometry.

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The co-occurrence of increasing rates of resistance to current antibiotics and the paucity of novel antibiotics pose major challenges for the treatment of bacterial infections. In this scenario, treatments targeting bacterial virulence have gained considerable interest as they are expected to exert a weaker selection for resistance than conventional antibiotics. In a previous study, we demonstrated that a low-molecular-weight quaternized chitosan derivative, named QAL, displays antibiofilm activity against the major pathogen at subinhibitory concentrations.

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It is widely recognized that many chronic infections of the human body have a polymicrobial etiology. These include diabetic foot ulcer infections, lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients, periodontitis, otitis, urinary tract infections and even a proportion of systemic infections. The treatment of mixed infections poses serious challenges in the clinic.

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. Totally implanted venous access ports (TIVAPs) are widely used in patients receiving long-term chemotherapy but may lead to serious complications such as catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs). Diagnosis of CRBSI requires catheter culture, but there is no consensus on microbiological culture methods to be adopted.

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The ability of many anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) to modulate the host immune response has highlighted their possible therapeutic use to reduce uncontrolled inflammation during chronic infections. In the present study, we examined the anti-inflammatory potential of the semi-synthetic peptide lin-SB056-1 and its dendrimeric derivative (lin-SB056-1)-K, which were previously found to have anti-microbial activity against in in vivo-like models mimicking the challenging environment of chronically infected lungs (i.e.

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