Immobilization of bacteriophage in wound-dressing nanostructure

Abstract

Opportunistic bacteria that cause life-threatening infections are still a central problem associated with a healthcare setting. Bacteriophage capsid immobilization on nanostructured polymers maximizes its tail exposure and looks promising in applications toward skin-infections as alternative to antibiotics standardly used. The main goal of this work was to investigate the covalent immobilization of vB_Pae_Kakheti25 bacteriophage capsid on polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers (non-woven textile), as a potential effective antimicrobial, laundry resistant and non-toxic dressing for biomedical use. Surface analyses showed that the immobilization of vB_Pae_Kakheti25 bacteriophage capsid on PCL nanofibres oriented bacteriophage tails to interact with bacteria. Furthermore, antimicrobial assays showed a very effective 6 log bacterial reduction, which was equivalent to 99.9999%, after immediate and 2 hours of contact, even following 25 washing cycles (due to covalent bond). The activity of PCL-vB_Pae_Kakheti25 against P. aeruginosa was immediate and its reduction was complete.

Electrospun Nanofibers as Carriers of Microorganisms, Stem Cells, Proteins, and Nucleic Acids in Therapeutic and Other Applications

“…Nanofibers have been used as scaffolds for stem-cell delivery, mainly for tissue engineering and wound healing (Shabani et al, 2009;Gizaw et al, 2019). Nanofibers with viruses have mainly been used for gene delivery, while bacteriophages and oncolytic viruses have been applied against some pathogenic bacteria and cancers respectively (Lee et al, 2011;Nogueira et al, 2017). Nucleic acids have been incorporated into nanofibers for gene delivery, usually in the form of plasmid DNA (Li et al, 2013).…”

“…Viruses that have antibacterial effects are called bacteriophages. The vB_Pae_Kakheti25 bacteriophage capsid immobilized into PCL electrospun nanofibers showed antibacterial effects against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a pathogen that causes acute and chronic skin infections (Nogueira et al, 2017). The bacteriophages T7, T4, and λ maintained their viability when they were encapsulated in PVA nanofibers over 3 months at −4 • C, −20 • C, and −55 • C (Salalha et al, 2006).…”

The dawn of phage therapy

“…Such microbes are responsible for skin infections and diseases making chronic wounds and burns unable to heal . Researchers are trying to overcome such problems by immobilizing phages on nanofibers as a nontoxic antimicrobial dressing that shows immediate and complete reduction of pathogens including P. aeruginosa . Apart from phage antibacterial property, researchers are identifying hidden potentials that can be utilized using phages such as phage as nanocarriers .…”

Antimicrobial Activity of Poly(ester urea) Electrospun Fibers Loaded with Bacteriophages

“…The product has been commercialized under the trademark of PhagoBioDerm, being beneficial for the treatment of chronic wounds [6] and multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections [7]. Bacteriophages have also been revealed to be effective in the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa [8][9][10][11], which is probably the microorganism responsible for the most common infections in hospital environments [12]. These infections tend toward chronicity, with a mortality rate of up to 61%, since infections cannot be effectively treated with any antibiotic combination [13].…”

“…Thus the vB_Pae_Kakheti25 bacteriophage, which is highly effective against P. aeruginosa, was covalently immobilized through the formation of amide linkages onto PCL electrospun nanofibers. Materials with immediate and complete bacterial reduction were reported [8].…”