REVIEW article
Front. Antibiot.
Sec. Antibiotic Development
This article is part of the Research TopicNatural Products and Microbial Interactions: From Antimicrobial Activity to Microbial ModulationView all 4 articles
Overcoming Candidal Biofilm Resistance: Targeting Persister Cells with Probiotic-Derived Metabolites
Provisionally accepted
Priyanka Debta1*
Binaya Krushna Sahu2
Sudipta Kumar Patra3
Fakir Mohan Debta4
Ekagrata Mishra4
Sujogya Kumar Panda2*- 1Siksha O Anusandhan Institute of Dental Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India
- 2Siksha O Anusandhan, Bhubaneswar, India
- 3Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India
- 4SCB Dental College and Hospital, Cuttack, India
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Candida biofilms pose a significant complication in clinical settings due to antifungal drug tolerance and the presence of persister cells. Biofilm-mediated resistance is influenced by several associated factors, including the high density and extracellular matrix characteristics of the biofilm, metabolic downregulation, efflux pump activity, and stress-response signaling pathways, which ultimately diminish drug permeability and effectiveness. Within biofilms, persister cells form a small subpopulation of cells with unique phenotypic traits that enable them to survive lethal antifungal exposure and promote the recurrence of infection. Failure of antifungal treatments in eliminating biofilm and their resilient communities suggests a need for new, adjunct treatment options Recent findings have highlighted the therapeutic potential of probiotic-derived metabolites for inhibiting certain aspects of biofilm behavior and survival. These postbiotic compounds could offer a multi-faceted, low-toxicity treatment approach that may be used as an adjunct with existing antifungal therapies. Future investigations incorporating mechanistic studies, biofilm models, and drug product development for metabolite formulations could lead to a new treatment strategy for persistent Candida infections.
Keywords: antifungal resistance, Candida biofilms, persister cells, Postbiotics, Probiotic-derived metabolites
Received: 13 Dec 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Debta, Sahu, Patra, Debta, Mishra and Panda. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Priyanka Debta
Sujogya Kumar Panda
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.