Human breast milk isolated lactic acid bacteria: antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activity on the Galleria mellonella burn wound model

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2024 Sep 6:14:1428525. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1428525. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Introduction: Managing burn injuries is a challenge in healthcare. Due to the alarming increase in antibiotic resistance, new prophylactic and therapeutic strategies are being sought. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of live Lactic Acid Bacteria for managing burn infections, using Galleria mellonella larvae as an alternative preclinical animal model and comparing the outcomes with a common antibiotic.

Methods: The antimicrobial activity of LAB isolated from human breast milk was assessed in vitro against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. Additionally, the immunomodulatory effects of LAB were evaluated in vivo using the G. mellonella burn wound infection model.

Results and discussion: In vitro results demonstrated the antimicrobial activity of Lactic Acid Bacteria against P. aeruginosa. In vivo results show that their prophylactic treatment improves, statistically significant, larval survival and modulates the expression of immunity-related genes, Gallerimycin and Relish/NF-κB, strain-dependently. These findings lay the foundation and suggest a promising alternative for burn wound prevention and management, reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance, enhancing immune modulation, and validating the potential G. mellonella as a skin burn wound model.

Keywords: Galleria mellonella; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; antimicrobial peptides; burn infection prevention; burn wound infection model; host-pathogen interaction; immunomodulatory activity; lactic acid bacteria.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
  • Burns* / microbiology
  • Disease Models, Animal*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lactobacillales*
  • Larva* / microbiology
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Milk, Human* / microbiology
  • Moths / microbiology
  • Pseudomonas Infections / drug therapy
  • Pseudomonas Infections / immunology
  • Pseudomonas Infections / microbiology
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa* / drug effects
  • Wound Infection / drug therapy
  • Wound Infection / microbiology

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The author(s) declare that financial support was received for publication cost by "NATIVAL s.r.l.'', spin-off company of Università degli Studi del Molise.