| Summary: |
Chronic wounds represent a growing disease burden with notable economic and societal impact. Despite being frequently associated with patient´s comorbidities, it cannot be devalued that chronic wounds represent a silent epidemic of a large fraction of the world population. One of the main reasons why infected wounds are so difficult to heal is related to the presence of biofilms. Biofilms promote wound inflammation and a remarkable lack of response to host defenses and treatment options, which in turns leads to the disease progression and chronicity. So far, no antibiofilm molecule has been approved and so, it is an open and pivotal research need. The use of antibiotic potentiators/adjuvants from plant-natural sources has emerged as an attractive and cost-effective route to suppress bacterial resistance mechanisms in biofilms. The core aim of the proposed project is to develop new bioactive mixtures based on the combination of grape pomace (the main by-product of the winemaking industry) extracts and useless topical antibiotics, to safely achieve a more robust antibiofilm/therapeutic effect. These by-products are underexplored for antimicrobial therapy even if they carry auspicious potentialities, such as richness in polyphenols. Besides, the valorization of by-products from wine production is considered an economically promising and environmentally friendly alternative that comply with one of the most important objectives launched by the EU, the sustainability. In a broader perspective, we hypothesize that these combined therapies will provide synergistic antimicrobial outcomes, while also allowing the use of lower individual concentrations, tackling one of the biggest conundrums in clinical practice ? by potentially decreasing the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.Thus, we propose not only uncover new therapies for chronic wounds, but also provide an alternative for existing side effects-laden treatments, which could be groundbreaking for the scientifi  |
Summary
Chronic wounds represent a growing disease burden with notable economic and societal impact. Despite being frequently associated with patient´s comorbidities, it cannot be devalued that chronic wounds represent a silent epidemic of a large fraction of the world population. One of the main reasons why infected wounds are so difficult to heal is related to the presence of biofilms. Biofilms promote wound inflammation and a remarkable lack of response to host defenses and treatment options, which in turns leads to the disease progression and chronicity. So far, no antibiofilm molecule has been approved and so, it is an open and pivotal research need. The use of antibiotic potentiators/adjuvants from plant-natural sources has emerged as an attractive and cost-effective route to suppress bacterial resistance mechanisms in biofilms. The core aim of the proposed project is to develop new bioactive mixtures based on the combination of grape pomace (the main by-product of the winemaking industry) extracts and useless topical antibiotics, to safely achieve a more robust antibiofilm/therapeutic effect. These by-products are underexplored for antimicrobial therapy even if they carry auspicious potentialities, such as richness in polyphenols. Besides, the valorization of by-products from wine production is considered an economically promising and environmentally friendly alternative that comply with one of the most important objectives launched by the EU, the sustainability. In a broader perspective, we hypothesize that these combined therapies will provide synergistic antimicrobial outcomes, while also allowing the use of lower individual concentrations, tackling one of the biggest conundrums in clinical practice ? by potentially decreasing the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.Thus, we propose not only uncover new therapies for chronic wounds, but also provide an alternative for existing side effects-laden treatments, which could be groundbreaking for the scientific community and translational medicine and, above all, for the wellbeing of patients and environment respect. |