Microorganisms Targeting Services

Treating infectious diseases with drugs usually leads to the overuse of drugs and the emergence of drug-resistant microorganisms due to the non-specific delivery of drugs at infectious sites. Also, drugs without targeting design may be toxic to human cells, and the therapeutic effect can be reduced. With the help of targeting modules, delivery systems can be easily modified to selectively target infectious sites to overcome these problems. Equipped with years of project completion experience, Creative Biolabs is capable to develop targeted delivery systems specifically designed for different infectious microorganisms.

Since many types of pathogenic microorganisms pose a great threat to human health, it is critically necessary to continuously pursue ongoing exploration to develop effective approaches or vehicles for targeted drug delivery, thereby providing enhanced therapeutic efficacy, decreased side and toxic effects, improved compliance, as well as simple yet efficient therapy. The differences between the microenvironments of the microbial infection sites and normal tissues, such as high expression of some special enzymes, lower pH, hydrogen peroxide and release toxins, are usually used for targeted and controlled drug delivery. Additionally, surface charges, antigens and the surface structures of pathogenic microorganisms are all different from normal tissue cells.

Targeting Bacteria

Intracellular bacterial infections are hard to treat because of the inability of conventional antimicrobial agents belonging to widely used classes. The increasing problems of antibiotic resistance complicate more the treatment of the diseases caused by these agents. In many cases, the increase in therapeutic doses and treatment duration is accompanied by the occurrence of severe side effects. Therefore, the design of drug delivery systems to enable the targeting of drugs inside the cells and achieve a reduced dosage and frequency of administration could represent a prudent choice. Different improved delivery systems targeting the specific bacteria have been developed for treating bacterial infections, such as antibiotics loaded liposomes / microspheres / polymeric carriers / nanoplexes decorated with targeting module (peptide, scaffold protein, antibody, or antibody fragment) on the surface.

Fig.1 Different mechanisms of action of NPs in bacterial cells.¹

Based on the special bacterial infection microenvironments and bacteria surface properties, a series of bacteria targeted drug delivery systems have been constructed for highly efficient drug delivery. Drug delivery systems for enhanced antibacterial properties could be designed by Creative Biolabs in the following strategies:

• Targeted drug delivery based on electrostatic interactions
• Targeted drug delivery based on ligand-receptor recognition
• Targeted drug delivery based on shape and size
• Targeted drug delivery based on antigen-antibody recognition
• Targeted drug delivery based on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
• Targeted drug delivery based on vancomycin (Van)

Targeting Fungus

The progression of fungal infections can be rapid and serious due to compromising with immune function. They may cause liver damage, affect estrogen levels or may cause allergic reactions. Oxiconazole nitrate (OXZN) is regarded as a broad spectrum commonly used antifungal drug. As an infectious microorganism, a fungal cell is different from a host human cell. The unique ectocellular structure of fungi may provide possible recognition sites for drug targeting. Interestingly, many fungi have chitosan or chitosan-like molecules in the cell wall as a dynamic component, reflecting the pathogenic state of the fungal cell, suggesting chitosan is a promising general target for pathogenic fungal tracking and elimination. Scientists at Creative Biolabs have constructed and evaluated several efficient fungus-targeted drug delivery systems through the conjugation of chitosan-binding peptides screened by phage display as a targeting moiety to the surface of different drug carriers.

Fig.2 DectiSomes are designed to target antifungal drugs specifically to fungal cells.²

Targeting Virus

Viral infections can cause many diseases of varying severity. Some of the diseases are not lethal but represent a significant burden to human health. For example, the impact of influenza virus infection is felt each year on a global scale. While vaccination is the primary strategy for influenza prevention, there are several likely scenarios for which vaccination is inadequate, making the development of effective antiviral agents of utmost importance. Scientists have previously proved that lipid tagged peptides derived from the C-terminal region of influenza hemagglutinin (HA) were effective influenza fusion inhibitors. The influenza fusion inhibitors were modified by adding a cell penetrating peptide (CPP) and a targeting moiety to promote intracellular targeting.

Fig.3 Schematic model of a virus infecting an eukaryotic cell and antiviral mechanism of metal nanoparticles.³

If you are interested in our diverse strategies and module delivery systems targeting bacteria, fungus and virus, please don't hesitate to contact us for more information. We are glad to share our experience with you.

References

1. Baptista, Pedro V., et al. "Nano-strategies to fight multidrug resistant bacteria—“A Battle of the Titans”." Frontiers in microbiology 9 (2018): 1441.
2. Meagher, Richard B., et al. "Aiming for a bull’s-eye: Targeting antifungals to fungi with dectin-decorated liposomes." PLOS pathogens 17.7 (2021): e1009699.
3. Galdiero, Stefania, et al. "Silver nanoparticles as potential antiviral agents." Molecules 16.10 (2011): 8894-8918.

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