Talmudic Question #64

by Ramy Aziz

Are any human-associated biofilms "useful" or "beneficial" to human health?

Comments

[mschaech@sunstroke.sdsu.edu]

Elio comments:

LIz, nice point but do we know how "biofilmy" the vaginal lactobacilli actually are? They stick to vaginal epithelial cells (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631649/). I guess this can be called a biofilm.

Mark, thanks for the reference.

[Amber Hartman]

Vaginal biofilms composed mainly of Lactobacilli help to maintain the acidic pH of the vaginal canal. In addition to low pH, antimicrobial peptides secreted by the human immune system, combine to make an ideal environment for the Lactobacilli and deter opportunistic infections or, at least, dysbioses, from Candida and vaginosis bugs.

[Mark O. Martin]

Sigh. Apparently I did not proofread my initial post as well as I should have, making a very ironic error. Allow me to repost:

Historically, people have focused on negative microbial interactions as they relate to humans; consider how far Pasteur and Koch took the field, initially, all in the laudable service of reducing human disease. And so it became with biofilms, as the paradigm persisted---though there is a lot of interest in nonpathogenic biofilms, there is a an obvious focus in learning how to "fight" biofilms responsible for disease.

Still, there is quite a bit of evidence of beneficial human-associated biofilms.

In terms of the treatment of disease:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20110388

Also, I consider the mucosal biofilms of the gut---associated with health issues, good and bad---to be another example. I'm sure that Jeff Gordon could describe this much more eloquently than I can! In addition, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that biofilm-associated microbes interact with our own immune system in positive and mutualistic ways.

Speaking of which, here is a meeting I *wish* I could attend, for exactly the reasoning behind this Talmudic Question!

http://www.asm.org/index.php/meetings/3rd-asm-conference-on-beneficial-microbes.html

Sigh. Just look at the preliminary schedule. I wish I could go!

[Matt]

que? " I'm sure that Jeff Gordon would was more eloquently than I can!"

what would was he saying to you?

[Mark O. Martin]

Historically, people have focused on negative microbial interactions as they relate to humans; look at how far Pasteur and Koch took the field, initially, all in the service of reducing human disease. And so it was with biofilms, as the paradigm persists.

Still, there is quite a bit of evidence of beneficial human-associated biofilms.

In treatment of disease:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20110388

Also, I consider the mucosal biofilms of the gut---associated with health issues, good and bad---to be another example. I'm sure that Jeff Gordon would was more eloquently than I can! In addition, there is a growing body of evidence that biofilm-associated microbes interact with our own immune system in positive ways!

Speaking of which, here is a meeting I *wish* I could attend, for exactly the reasoning behind this Talmudic Question!

http://www.asm.org/index.php/meetings/3rd-asm-conference-on-beneficial-microbes.html

Sigh.