Microbubble‐Controlled Delivery of Biofilm‐Targeting Nanoparticles to Treat MRSA Infection

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Abstract
Drug‐resistant microorganisms cause serious problems in human healthcare, leading to the persistence in infections and poor treatment outcomes from conventional therapy. In this study, a gene‐targeting strategy using microbubble‐controlled nanoparticles is introduced that can effectively eliminate biofilms of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in vivo. Biofilm‐targeting nanoparticles (BTN) capable of delivering oligonucleotides are developed that effectively remove biofilm‐associated bacteria upon controlled delivery with diatom‐based microbubblers (MB). The activity of BTN in silencing key bacterial genes related to MRSA biofilm formation ( icaA ), bacterial growth ( ftsZ ), and antimicrobial resistance ( mecA ), as well as their multi‐targeting ability in vitro is validated. The integration of BTN with MB is next examined, resulting in synergistic effects in biofilm removal and antimicrobial activity in an ex vivo porcine skin model. The therapeutic efficacy is further investigated in vivo in a mouse wound model infected with MRSA biofilm, which showed that MB‐controlled BTN delivery substantially reduced bacterial load and led to the effective elimination of the biofilm. This study underscores the potential of the gene silencing platform with physical enhancement as a promising strategy to combat problems related to biofilms and antibiotic resistance.
Funding Information
  • National Institutes of Health (1R01AI160671‐A1)
  • National Science Foundation (NSF‐DMR 2004719)
  • Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAISTGrandChallengeProject(KC30))

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