Abstract
We are constantly exposed to infectious diseases, and they cause millions of deaths per year. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that antibiotic resistance could cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050. Multidrug-resistant bacteria are the cause of infection in at least one in three people suffering from septicemia. While antibiotics are powerful agents against infectious diseases, the alarming increase in antibiotic resistance is of great concern. Alternatives are desperately needed, and nanotechnology provides a great opportunity to develop novel approaches for the treatment of infectious diseases. One of the most important factors in the prognosis of an infection caused by an antibiotic resistant bacteria is an early and rigorous diagnosis, jointly with the use of novel therapeutic systems that can specifically target the pathogen and limit the selection of resistant strains. Nanodiamonds can be used as antimicrobial agents due to some of their properties including size, shape, and biocompatibility, which make them highly suitable for the development of efficient and tailored nanotherapies, including vaccines or drug delivery systems. In this review, we discuss the beneficial findings made in the nanodiamonds field, focusing on diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. We also highlight the innovative platform that nanodiamonds confer for vaccine improvement, drug delivery, and shuttle systems, as well as their role in the generation of faster and more sensitive clinical diagnosis.
Highlights
Infectious diseases are one of the primary worries of public health systems worldwide
Bacteria and viruses have micro-/nano-dimensions [33], and this enhances the hypothetical usage of nanoparticles as a vaccine delivery system or adjuvant, under the premise that they can be processed by the immune system [34,35]
This particularity of the NDs was further explored by Ong et al who demonstrated that the bactericidal properties of NDs vary depending on bacteria type (NDs revealed a certain grade of bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus), concentration, size, structure, and time of exposure, among others [65,66]
Summary
Infectious diseases are one of the primary worries of public health systems worldwide. NDs are important members of the nanocarbon family; they have a very small size, ranging from 1 Their use in biomedicine has been significantly increasing in a wide spectrum of applications, including to 100 nm [8], allowing for excellent biocompatibility and optical properties [9]. Core-shellsuch model, which the core (thewhich diamond carbon) different is inert, while the surfaceto shell is partially graphitic allowing for the addition a variety of functional e.g., carboxyl, hydroxyl [19] The they can be used based, as a delivery system for a of huge range of drugs,groups, antigens, and antibodies [10], or biomolecules such with as lysozyme [25], whichenables confers the different properties. We discuss the properties that make NDs truly unique and extraordinary in comparison to other nanomaterials, focusing on their impact on the medical field, with special attention on infectious disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
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