Current Solutions for the Interception of Quorum Sensing in Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus (S.) aureus is a versatile human pathogen responsible for both nosocomial and community acquired infections. The ability of this opportunistic pathogen to cause a large spectrum of infections is due to an impressive spectrum of virulence determinants. The coordinated expression of many virulence determinants during the infectious process is regulated by the agr quorum-sensing system (QS). Different studies have shown that agr mutants are less virulent comparatively with their wild counterparts. Thus, the inhibition of quorum sensing genes expression may represent a new strategy of virulence and pathogenicity attenuation of S. aureus clinical strains. The aim of this paper was to review the main types of S. aureus quorum sensing inhibitors (QSI) known until present, focusing on a new strategy of virulence attenuation based on probiotics. It was demonstrated by real-time RT-qPCR that the soluble factors accumulated in the probiotic cultures are inhibiting the QS agr genes expression in S. aureus clinical strains, representing thus an interesting, new anti-microbial strategy for the prevention and therapy of staphylococcal infections.