| Title | Gold nanoparticle-DNA aptamer-assisted delivery of antimicrobial peptide effectively inhibits Acinetobacter baumannii infection in mice |
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| Author | Jaeyeong Park1†, Eunkyoung Shin1†, Ji-Hyun Yeom1†, Younkyung Choi1, Minju Joo1, Minho Lee2, Je Hyeong Kim3, Jeehyeon Bae4*, and Kangseok Lee1* |
| Address | 1Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea, 2Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Chuncheon 24252, Republic of Korea, 3Division of Pulmonology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan 15355, Republic of Korea, 4School of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 60(1),128-136, 2022, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-022-1620-3 |
| Key Words | Acinetobacter baumannii, antimicrobial peptide, gold nanoparticle, multidrug-resistant bacteria |
| Abstract | Acinetobacter baumannii causes multidrug resistance, leading to fatal infections in humans. In this study, we showed that Lys AB2 P3-His–a hexahistidine-tagged form of an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) loaded onto DNA aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNP-Apt)–can effectively inhibit A. baumannii infection in mice. When A. baumannii-infected mice were intraperitoneally injected with AuNP-Apt loaded with Lys AB2 P3-His, a marked reduction in A. baumannii colonization was observed in the mouse organs, leading to prominently increased survival time and rate of the mice compared to those of the control mice treated with AuNP-Apt or Lys AB2 P3-His only. This study shows that AMPs loaded onto AuNP-Apt could be an effective therapeutic tool against infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria in humans. |