Inhibition of S. aureus Infection of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) by Trehalose‐ and Glucose‐Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract

Microbial adhesion to host cells represents the initial step in the infection process. Several methods have been explored to inhibit microbial adhesion including the use of glycopolymers based on mannose, galactose, sialic acid and glucose. These sugar receptors are, however, abundant in the body, and are not unique to bacteria. Trehalose, in contrast, is a unique disaccharide that is widely expressed by microbes. This carbohydrate has not yet been explored as an anti‐adhesive agent. Herein, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coated with trehalose‐based polymers were prepared and compared to glucose‐functionalized AuNPs and examined for their ability to prevent binding to endothelial cells. Acting as anti‐adhesive agents, trehalose‐functionalized NPs decreased the binding of S. aureus to HUVECs, while outperforming the control NPs. Microscopy revealed that trehalose‐coated NPs bound strongly to S. aureus compared to the controls. In conclusion, nanoparticles based on trehalose could be a non‐toxic alternative to inhibit S. aureus infection.

Glycofullerene–AuNPs as multivalent ligands of DC-SIGN and bacterial lectin FimH: tuning nanoparticle size and ligand density

“…9 Based on the advantages mentioned above, AuNPs can serve as excellent platforms to display glycans ligands at their surface to enhance binding affinity by the multivalent effect. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] As typical cases, AuNPs functionalized with D-mannose were investigated for the selectivity of the lectin-glycan reaction toward lectins such as DC-SIGN or for mannose-binding bacteria. [23][24][25][26] Notably, most glycoAuNPs reported in the literature have a size almost always comprised between 2 and 20 nm.…”