PLGA from PolySciTech used in development of MRSA targeting nanoparticles for antibacterial applications.

Due to its resistance to most common antibiotics, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an extremely difficult bacterial infection to treat. Recently, researchers at Temple University (Philadelphia, PA, USA) used PLGA (AP063) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create nanoparticles for attacking MRSA inside bone and biofilms. This research holds promise to provide for improved therapies against antibiotic resistant bacteria. Read more: Guo, Pengbo, Bettina A. Buttaro, Hui Yi Xue, Ngoc T. Tran, and Ho Lun Wong. "Lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles carrying linezolid improve treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) harbored inside bone cells and biofilms." European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics (2020). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939641120301041

“Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the most prevalent pathogen causing osteomyelitis. The tendency of MRSA to evade standard antibiotic treatment by hiding inside bone cells and biofilms is a major cause of frequent osteomyelitis recurrence. In this study, we developed a lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticle loading the antibiotic linezolid (LIN-LPN), and focused on evaluating if this new nanoantibiotic can achieve significant in vitro activities against these intracellular and biofilm-embedded MRSA. The optimal LIN-LPN formulation demonstrated both high linezolid payload (12.0% by weight of nanoparticles) and controlled release characteristics (gradually released the entrapped antibiotic in 120 h). Although it achieved lower activities against bacteria including USA300-0114, CDC-587, RP-62A in planktonic form, it was substantially superior against the intracellular MRSA reservoir inside osteoblast cells. The differences of intracellular activities between LIN-LPN and linezolid were 87.0-fold, 12.3-fold, and 12.6-fold in CFU/ml (p < 0.05 or < 0.01) at 2 µg/ml, 4 µg/ml, and 8 µg/ml linezolid concentrations, respectively. LIN-LPN also suppressed the MRSA biofilm growth to 35–60% of the values achieved with free linezolid (p < 0.05). These enhanced intracellular and anti-biofilm activities of LIN-LPN were likely contributed by the extensive accumulation of LIN-LPN inside the MRSA-infected osteoblasts and biofilms as revealed in the confocal microscope images. The study thus validates the feasibility of exploiting the good nanoparticle-host cell and nanoparticle-biofilm interactions for improving the antibiotic drug activities against the poorly accessible bacteria, and supports LIN-LPN as a new alternative therapy for preventing the recurrence of MRSA-mediated bone infections. Keywords Osteomyelitis Nanoparticles Antibiotic Drug-resistant bacteria”