Farnesol Emulsion As an Effective Broad-Spectrum Agent Against ESKAPE Biofilms

The family of ESKAPE pathogens is comprised of , and . Together they are the main contributors of nosocomial infections and are well established for their ability to "escape" antibiotics. Farnesol is an FDA-approved cosmetic and flavoring agent with significant anti-biofilm properties. In a proprietary emulsion, farnesol has been shown to be capable of disrupting , and biofilms. The current work demonstrates that this farnesol emulsion reduces the number of viable bacteria, while also leading to reductions in biomass, of the other three ESKAPE pathogens: and both in vitro and in an ex vivo human skin model. A concentration of 0.5 mg/mL was effective for impeding biofilm development of all three bacteria, while 1 mg/mL for and , or 0.2 mg/mL for was able to kill bacteria in established biofilms. Contrary to antibiotics, no resistance to farnesol was observed for or . The results indicate that farnesol is effective for direct cell killing and also has the ability to induce biofilm detachment from surfaces, as confirmed using Live/Dead image analysis. Our findings confirm that farnesol emulsion is an effective broad-spectrum agent to impede ESKAPE biofilms.