Inorganic nanoparticle engineering against bacterial infections

• Published in: Current opinion in chemical engineering 2022-12, Vol.38, p.100872, Article 100872
• Main Authors: Tsikourkitoudi, Vasiliki, Henriques-Normark, Birgitta, Sotiriou, Georgios A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2211-3398; 2211-3398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.coche.2022.100872

During the last decade, inorganic nanoparticles have shown their therapeutic potential against infectious diseases, particularly in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. Inorganic nanomaterials may effectively address the drawbacks of conventional therapies since they possess optimized physicochemical properties in comparison to their bulk counterparts, such as large surface-to-volume ratio, heat resistance, and long-term stability. However, there are still manufacturing challenges that should be overcome for their successful clinical translation. Here, we review the current state-of-the-art on antimicrobial formulations based on inorganic nanoparticles and present (i) promising examples of particles with intrinsic antimicrobial behavior and (ii) an overview of the combination of inorganic nanoparticles with drugs, both small molecules such as antibiotics and larger biological drugs such as antimicrobial peptides that may lead to synergistic or improved antimicrobial therapies. The versatile properties of inorganic nanoparticles may be tuned to address efficacy challenges, highlighting the potential of such therapies.