Due to the excessive use of antibiotics, the problem of microbial resistance is becoming increasingly serious. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new antibacterial drugs or technologies. Antibacterial peptides are known as the "next generation antibiotics" due to their multiple antibacterial mechanisms and low susceptibility to drug resistance.
In recent years, the research and development team of biological nanomaterials of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has cooperated with several hospitals to design and prepare a variety of antibacterial peptides and related functional materials for clinical problems caused by microbial infection, which have been verified on a variety of animal models of infectious diseases.
Recently, the team cooperated with Beijing Emergency General Hospital to design an antibacterial peptide with excellent antibacterial performance against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and construct an enzyme responsive antibacterial hydrogel that can be formed in situ. The hydrogel consists of four arm polyethylene glycol maleimide (4-Arm PEG Mal) N-terminal maleimide functionalized antimicrobial peptides and collagenase containing thiol groups at both ends can cleave peptides through chemical bonding. Due to the rapid bonding between maleimide and thiol groups, AMP/VPM/PEG hydrogel can be rapidly formed in situ under physiological conditions. In addition, collagenase overexpressed at the bacterial infection site can enzymatically hydrolyze the hydrogel to achieve the on-demand delivery of antimicrobial peptides, thereby enhancing the activity of antimicrobial peptides against MRSA in the infectious environment. The research shows that in the rat osteomyelitis model in vivo, the hydrogel can be formed in situ in the bone marrow cavity by injecting 4-Arm PEG Mal solution and polypeptide solution into the bone marrow cavity with a 26 G needle. CT results showed that AMP/VPM/PEG hydrogel could prevent osteomyelitis induced by MRSA. The above achievements provide a minimally invasive method for on-demand intramedullary delivery of antimicrobial peptides and are expected to provide feasible strategies for clinical prevention of osteomyelitis.
The relevant research results are published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. The research work has received support from the National Natural Science Foundation and the Director's Fund of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry.
Paper link
Design of antimicrobial peptide based biomaterials and their applications in various disease models
