Tobramycin Nanoantibiotics and Their Advantages: A Minireview

Abstract

Nowadays, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a challenge for antibiotic therapy, mostly involving Gram-negative bacteria. Among the strategies activated to overcome AMR, the repurposing of already available antimicrobial molecules by encapsulating them in drug delivery systems, such as nanoparticles (NPs) and also engineered NPs, seems to be promising. Tobramycin is a powerful and effective aminoglycoside, approved for complicated infections and reinfections and indicated mainly against Gram-negative bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Serratia, Providencia, and Citrobacter species. However, the drug presents several side effects, mostly due to dose frequency, and for this reason, it is a good candidate for nanomedicine formulation. This review paper is focused on what has been conducted in the last 20 years for the development of Tobramycin nanosized delivery systems (nanoantibiotics), with critical discussion and comparison. Tobramycin was selected as the antimicrobial drug because it is a wide-spectrum antibiotic that is effective against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative aerobic bacteria, and it is characterized by a fast bactericidal effect, even against multidrug-resistant microorganisms (MDR).

Sulfur-Polymer Nanoparticles: Preparation and Antibacterial Activity

“…The potential of using high sulfur content nanoparticles as combination therapies with antibiotics was investigated. Nanoparticles were tested against an extensively drug-resistant P. aeruginosa strain (B9) in combination with tobramycin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic that is used to treat complicated infections such as septicaemia and urinary tract infections and to manage P. aeruginosa infections in people with cystic fibrosis . The effect of varying the tobramycin concentration (1–512 μg/mL) while maintaining a nanoparticle concentration of 128 μg/mL was investigated (Figure S24).…”

“…Nanoparticles were tested against an extensively drug-resistant P. aeruginosa strain (B9) in combination with tobramycin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic that is used to treat complicated infections such as septicaemia and urinary tract infections and to manage P. aeruginosa infections in people with cystic fibrosis. 28 The effect of varying the tobramycin concentration (1–512 μg/mL) while maintaining a nanoparticle concentration of 128 μg/mL was investigated ( Figure S24 ). In the absence of antibiotics, 512 μg/mL of nanoparticles were required to inhibit >50% of the growth ( p < 0.0001 relative to untreated control) of the highly drug-resistant P. aeruginosa B9 strain.…”

Improving the production of carbamoyltobramycin by an industrial Streptoalloteichus tenebrarius through metabolic engineering

“…It was primarily employed clinically for treating severe infectious diseases caused by Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Wang et al 2012 ; Wasserman et al 2015 ). Additionally, it exhibited bactericidal effect, even in treating multi-drug resistant microorganisms (MDR) (Pagkalis et al 2011 ; Rosalia et al 2022 ). The antibacterial mechanism of action involves the binding of tobramycin to the aminoacyl-tRNA recognition site (A-site) on the 30S subunit of bacterial ribosomes, which prevents formation of the normal 70S complex and inhibits protein translation ultimately leading to bacterial death.…”

Development of a tobramycin-loaded calcium alginate microsphere/chitosan composite sponge with antibacterial effects as a wound dressing

“…Tobramycin, a class of aminoglycoside antibiotics, is a broad-spectrum antibiotic with obvious and efficient inhibitory effects on gram-negative and grampositive bacteria [20]. Tobramycin exhibits good inhibitory effects on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is resistant to gentamicin, and shows less nephrotoxicity than does gentamicin.…”