State-of-the-art polymeric nanoparticles as promising therapeutic tools against human bacterial infections

• Published in: Journal of nanobiotechnology 2020-10, Vol.18 (1), p.156-24, Article 156
• Main Authors: Cano, Amanda, Ettcheto, Miren, Espina, Marta, López-Machado, Ana, Cajal, Yolanda, Rabanal, Francesc, Sánchez-López, Elena, Camins, Antonio, García, Maria Luisa, Souto, Eliana B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - chemistry; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial resistance; Bacteria; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial infections; Bacterial Infections - drug therapy; Biomimetic Materials; Diarrhea; Disease transmission; Drug Compounding; Drug delivery systems; Drug resistance; Drugs; Health risks; Humans; Infectious diseases; Medical innovations; Meningitis; Morbidity; Nanocapsules - chemistry; Nanomedicine; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Neisseria meningitidis; Nosocomial infection; Nosocomial infections; Polymeric nanoparticles; Polymers - chemistry; Public health; Review; Skin - drug effects; Tuberculosis
• ISSN: 1477-3155; 1477-3155
• DOI: 10.1186/s12951-020-00714-2

Infectious diseases kill over 17 million people a year, among which bacterial infections stand out. From all the bacterial infections, tuberculosis, diarrhoea, meningitis, pneumonia, sexual transmission diseases and nosocomial infections are the most severe bacterial infections, which affect millions of people worldwide. Moreover, the indiscriminate use of antibiotic drugs in the last decades has triggered an increasing multiple resistance towards these drugs, which represent a serious global socioeconomic and public health risk. It is estimated that 33,000 and 35,000 people die yearly in Europe and the United States, respectively, as a direct result of antimicrobial resistance. For all these reasons, there is an emerging need to find novel alternatives to overcome these issues and reduced the morbidity and mortality associated to bacterial infectious diseases. In that sense, nanotechnological approaches, especially smart polymeric nanoparticles, has wrought a revolution in this field, providing an innovative therapeutic alternative able to improve the limitations encountered in available treatments and capable to be effective by theirselves. In this review, we examine the current status of most dangerous human infections, together with an in-depth discussion of the role of nanomedicine to overcome the current disadvantages, and specifically the most recent and innovative studies involving polymeric nanoparticles against most common bacterial infections of the human body.