Abstract
Infections with multiresistant pathogens are a leading cause for mortality worldwide. Just recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) increased the threat rating for multiresistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the highest possible level. With this background, it is crucial to develop novel materials and procedures in the fight against multiresistant pathogens. In this study, we present a novel antimicrobial material, which could find applications as a wound dressing or antimicrobial coating. Lectins are multivalent sugar-binding proteins, which can be found in a variety of plants and bacteria, where they are associated with biofilm formation. By immobilizing lectin B on a protein-based hydrogel surface, we provided the hydrogel with the ability to immobilize ("catch") pathogens upon contact. Furthermore, another hydrogel layer was added which inhibits biofilm formation and releases a highly potent antimicrobial peptide to eradicate microorganisms ("kill"). The composite hydrogel showed a high antimicrobial activity against the reference strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 as well as against a carbapenem-resistant clinical isolate (multiresistant Gram-negative class 4) and may thus represent a novel material to develop a new type of antimicrobial wound dressings to prevent infections with this problematic pathogen of burn or other large wounds.
Highlights
Antimicrobial infections have become one of the major health issues of our century, especially with nosocomial infections being among the most challenging tasks to handle for healthcare facilities
lectin B (LecB) is a tetrameric protein which is known to bind different sugars with different affinities and is used by the producing bacteria to immobilize themselves on abiotic surfaces, for example, during biofilm formation or the establishment of infections.[37,57−59] This natural concept has been used to develop lectins for the immobilization of bacteria on surfaces to produce sensors for the detection of bacteria.[60,61]
We decided to directly use the lectin-mediated immobilization of bacteria for the construction of a composite material for the catching of human pathogens on synthetic surfaces, like a hydrogel modified with LecB from P. aeruginosa
Summary
Antimicrobial infections have become one of the major health issues of our century, especially with nosocomial infections being among the most challenging tasks to handle for healthcare facilities. Many hydrogel systems can be modified and designed according to the intended use by adjusting their physio-chemical properties and by functionalizing the material postproduction to add antimicrobial features In this context, hydrogels with inherent antimicrobial activity, e.g., positively charged polymers,[11−13] are distinguished from hydrogels with acquired antimicrobial activity, e.g., by encapsulating with or coupling to antimicrobial compounds, like antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides (AMP), or nanoparticles.[14−16] These unique material features qualify hydrogels as promising and potent materials in the fight against pathogens at many fronts, and several studies have been presented on the use of hydrogels as depots for drug delivery[14,15,17,18] or as Received: January 19, 2018 Revised: April 6, 2018 Published: April 17, 2018
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