Current trends and advances of microbial biosurfactants in the biomedical and pharmaceutical applications

Microbial biosurfactants are emerging as sustainable alternatives to synthetic surfactants due to their biodegradability, low toxicity, and multifunctional biological activities. Their potential in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications is increasingly recognized, yet integrated evaluations that link production strategies to translational outcomes remain limited. This review critically examines recent advances in biosurfactant production, optimization, and purification, as well as their applications in drug delivery, nanomedicine, antimicrobial therapy, vaccine formulation, wound healing, and immunomodulation. Major classes, including glycolipids, lipopeptides, phospholipids, and polymeric biosurfactants, are compared in terms of physicochemical properties and therapeutic potential. Evidence shows biosurfactants can reduce bacterial adhesion by up to 90%, inhibit biofilm formation by over 80%, and enhance antibiotic efficacy against multidrug-resistant pathogens. Biosurfactant-based carriers such as liposomes, micelles, nanoemulsions, and nanoparticles improve drug solubility, stability, bioavailability, and targeted release. Advances in engineered microbial platforms, low-cost substrates, and process optimization have enhanced production feasibility, though clinical translation remains constrained by cost, downstream processing, formulation stability, safety, and regulatory hurdles. Emerging approaches, including AI-assisted optimization and multiomics-guided discovery, promise next-generation biosurfactants with superior therapeutic performance.