Abstract
In 2017 the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a list of the 12 multidrug-resistant (MDR) families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health, and recommended that new measures should be taken to promote the development of new therapies against these superbugs. Few antibiotics have been developed in the last two decades. Part of this slow progression can be attributed to the surge in the resistance acquired by bacteria, which is holding back pharma companies from taking the risk to invest in new antibiotic entities. With limited antibiotic options and an escalating bacterial resistance there is an urgent need to explore alternative ways of meeting this global challenge. The field of medical nanotechnology has emerged as an innovative and a powerful tool for treating some of the most complicated health conditions. Different inorganic nanomaterials including gold, silver, and others have showed potential antibacterial efficacies. Interestingly, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have gained specific attention, due to their biocompatibility, ease of surface functionalization, and their optical properties. In this review, we will focus on the latest research, done in the field of antibacterial gold nanoparticles; by discussing the mechanisms of action, antibacterial efficacies, and future implementations of these innovative antibacterial systems.
Highlights
Bacterial resistance, one of the biggest threats to human health in the 21st century, is the ability of bacterial cells to resist one or more types of antibiotics [1]
H.Wang et al synthesized in a recent study [102] a novel, intelligent, and safe theranostic system based on a bacteria-induced gold nanoparticle (GNP) aggregation, offering both high levels of efficiency for bacterial surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging and for antibacterial photothermal therapy
Wang et al [103], by which S.aureus pretreated macrophage membraneswhere where tached to gold–silver nanocages (GSNCs) forming the nanoconjugate. This attached to gold–silver nanocages (GSNCs) forming the nanoconjugate Sa-M- GSNC. This system offered many advantages: (i) the ability to adhere to bacterial cells for targeted therapy; (ii) the application of the photothermal ablation effect, which resulted in significantly reduced bacterial counts both in vitro and in vivo; (iii) a unique structure of the GSNC, where antibacterial drugs can be loaded, and released with an on-demand control under NIR light; and (iv) an excellent biocompatibility profile and prolonged blood circulation time when tested in vivo on mice
Summary
One of the biggest threats to human health in the 21st century, is the ability of bacterial cells to resist one or more types of antibiotics [1]. Many bacteria are still susceptible to the majority of antimicrobial agents available, a specific group of bacteria can escape the bactericidal action of many antibiotics This small group consists of Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Acinetobacter baumanni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the Enterobacter species, and these bacteria are referred to as “the ESKAPE” pathogens [5]. The aforementioned data shows that efforts to combat the antimicrobial resistance phenomena are still in need, despite the promising improvements for controlling some bacterial species Another point to note is that E. coli followed by S. aureus have the lion’s share of the reported bacterial species, which means that it will be essential for future therapeutics to target both types of bacteria: Gram-positive and Gram-negative
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