Autonomous Treatment of Bacterial Infections in Vivo Using Antimicrobial Micro- and Nanomotors

• Published in: ACS nano 2022-05, Vol.16 (5), p.7547-7558
• Main Authors: Arqué, Xavier, Torres, Marcelo D. T., Patiño, Tania, Boaro, Andreia, Sánchez, Samuel, de la Fuente-Nunez, Cesar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c11013

The increasing resistance of bacteria to existing antibiotics constitutes a major public health threat globally. Most current antibiotic treatments are hindered by poor delivery to the infection site, leading to undesired off-target effects and drug resistance development and spread. Here, we describe micro- and nanomotors that effectively and autonomously deliver antibiotic payloads to the target area. The active motion and antimicrobial activity of the silica-based robots are driven by catalysis of the enzyme urease and antimicrobial peptides, respectively. These antimicrobial motors show micromolar bactericidal activity in vitro against different Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogenic bacterial strains and act by rapidly depolarizing their membrane. Finally, they demonstrated autonomous anti-infective efficacy in vivo in a clinically relevant abscess infection mouse model. In summary, our motors combine navigation, catalytic conversion, and bactericidal capacity to deliver antimicrobial payloads to specific infection sites. This technology represents a much-needed tool to direct therapeutics to their target to help combat drug-resistant infections.