Quo vadis quorum quenching?

•Quorum quenching could be an alternative to or act synergistically with antibiotics.•Prophylactic quorum quenching approaches have demonstrated efficacy in vivo.•Quorum sensing antigens might warrant inclusion in microbial vaccination strategies.•Neutralization of quorum sensing molecules may restore proper host immune function.•Development of drug-resistance against quorum quenching strategies remains unclear.

With the emergence of microbial pathogens increasingly resistant against commonly used antibiotics, new treatment strategies are desperately needed. Bacterial quorum sensing has attracted a lot of attention over the last decade as a potential new target for antimicrobial therapy. Interference with quorum sensing signaling, or quorum quenching, might offer new avenues to prevent and/or treat bacterial infections via inhibition of virulence factor expression and biofilm formation. While many inhibitors of quorum sensing signaling have been described, only few have been evaluated in vivo and none has been clinically developed. This review will highlight recent findings and discuss interesting future areas where quorum quenching might be a promising strategy.