In Vitro Efficacy of Dalbavancin as a Long-Acting Anti-Biofilm Agent Loaded in Bone Cement

Abstract

Based on previous studies by our group in which we demonstrated that dalbavancin loaded in bone cement had good elution capacity for the treatment of biofilm-related periprosthetic infections, we now assess the anti-biofilm activity of dalbavancin and compare it with that of vancomycin over a 3-month period. We designed an in vitro model in which we calculated the percentage reduction in log cfu/mL counts of sonicated steel discs contaminated with staphylococci and further exposed to bone cement discs loaded with 2.5% or 5% vancomycin and dalbavancin at various timepoints (24 h, 48 h, 1 week, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months). In addition, we tested the anti-biofilm activity of eluted vancomycin and dalbavancin at each timepoint based on a 96-well plate model in which we assessed the percentage reduction in metabolic activity. We observed a significant decrease in the dalbavancin concentration from 2 weeks of incubation, with sustained anti-biofilm activity up to 3 months. In the case of vancomycin, we observed a significant decrease at 1 week. The concentration gradually increased, leading to significantly lower anti-biofilm activity. The percentage reduction in cfu/mL counts was higher for dalbavancin than for vancomycin at both the 2.5% and the 5% concentrations. The reduction in log cfu/mL counts was higher for S. epidermidis than for S. aureus and was particularly more notable for 5% dalbavancin at 3 months. In addition, the percentage reduction in metabolic activity also decreased at 3 months in 5% dalbavancin and 5% vancomycin, with more notable values recorded for the latter.