Sexual HealthAerosolized Nanoparticles Show Promise For Delivering Antibiotic Treatment
Aerosol delivery of antibiotics via nanoparticles may provide a means to
improve drug delivery and increase patient compliance, thus reducing the severity of individual illnesses,
the spread of epidemics, and possibly even retarding antibiotic resistance.
Delivery of antibiotics via nanoparticles has shown promise as a drug delivery mechanism,
particularly for controlled release or depot delivery of drugs to decrease the number of doses required to
achieve a clinical effect. The effectiveness of this delivery mechanism has not been confirmed directly
either in infection models or in patients, but according to new data to be presented on Tuesday, May 19, at
the American Thoracic Society"s 105th International Conference in San Diego, this delivery technique
appears indeed promising.
Carolyn L. Cannon, M.D., Ph.D. from Washington University School of Medicine, and
colleagues from the Center for Silver Therapeutics Research at the University of Akron in OH
investigated the efficacy of nanoparticle-encapsulated silver-based antibiotics for treating pulmonary
infections in a mouse model of pneumonia. Treatment with antibiotic-laden nanoparticles
effectively eliminated respiratory infections in mice that had been inoculated with Pseudomona
aeroginosa, a common bacterial species that often infects the respiratory tract in humans,
particularly immunocompromised patients, ventilated patients or those with cystic fibrosis. Infected mice
that inhaled aerosolized nanoparticles encapsulating silver carbene complexes (SCCs), a novel class of
silver-based antimicrobials with broad-spectrum activity, showed a significant survival advantage over
the control mice that received nanoparticles without the SCCs. Treated mice also had
decreased lung bacterial burden and spread, compared to the control mice. Moreover, the treatment with
nanoparticles occurred once every 24 hours, a regimen that is known to increase compliance in human
patients, versus the usual dosing interval of inhaled antibiotics for P. aeruginosa, which is twice daily.
"We were surprised and thrilled to see a 100 percent survival advantage in mice treated daily with
SCC22-loaded nanoparticles at doses significantly lower than those used to achieve a similar survival
advantage in twice-daily dosing of unencapsulated SCC22. During a 72 hour period, all of the infected
control mice died, whereas all of the mice that received just two doses of SCC22-loaded nanoparticles
spaced 24 hours apart survived."
"My collaborators, Wiley Youngs, Ph.D., and Yang Yun, Ph.D., and I are eager to complete
toxicity studies that would enable us to start clinical trials," said Dr. Cannon. "While the mouse studies
are tantalizing, the goal that propels our research is realizing the promise of these novel antibiotics and
delivery mechanisms through an analogous survival advantage in patients."
American Thoracic Society