Chapter 11 - Photocontrolled nanosystems for antibacterial drug delivery

Abstract

Bacterial pathogens are causative agents for serious infectious diseases. Recent advances made in the field of photonanotechnology offer great potential in the development of multifunctional nanoplatforms applicable for specific bacterial detection and therapeutic treatment. This chapter presents the development of bacteria-targeting nanoplatforms with a focus on bacterial targets, multivalent ligand design, and light-controlled therapeutic modalities. First, the use of a multivalent ligand strategy plays a crucial role in the design of bacteria-targeted nanosystems due to its basis for high binding avidity and targeting specificity. This design is achievable by using targeting ligands that include beta-lactams, vancomycin glycopeptides, nisin, chlorhexidine, and daptomycin in Gram(+) cells, and polymyxins, siderophores, and ceramides in Gram(−) cells. Second, the use of these ligand-conjugated nanoplatforms shows great potential for photocontrolled therapeutic delivery in bacterial cells. Their mechanisms of action involve light-controlled drug release, the photodynamic effect based on the production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species, or the photothermal effect. In summary, this article presents the development and application of bacteria-targeted nanosystems in the aspect of their multivalent ligand design and mechanistic basis of photocontrolled therapeutic effects.