Design of tethered antimicrobial peptides for permanent medical device coatings.

描述（由申请人提供）：与医疗器械使用相关的广泛感染突出了医院程序对细菌入侵的固有脆弱性。为了对抗这些昂贵且可能致命的感染，各种第二代设备，如抗菌中心静脉导管（CVCs），已经被设计成在设备表面加入缓释抗生素或金属离子。虽然许多抗菌产品已经投入使用，但它们的功效有限，而且在许多应用中使用寿命不足。此外，由于担心全身毒性和耐药性的发展，临床医生一直在犹豫是否使用带有涂层的设备，这些设备会将抗菌剂释放到血液中。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Widespread infections related to the use of medical devices have highlighted the inherent vulnerability of hospital procedures to bacterial invasion. In order to battle these costly and potentially deadly infections, a variety of second-generation devices, such as antimicrobial central venous catheters (CVCs), have been engineered to incorporate slow-release antibiotics or metal ions onto the device surface. Although many of these antimicrobial products have come into use, they have limited efficacy and an insufficient lifespan for many applications. In addition, clinicians have been hesitant to use devices with coatings that release antimicrobial agents into the blood stream due to concerns over systemic toxicity and the development of drug resistance. In order to address the remaining clinical need for antimicrobial medical devices, SteriCoat founders have been developing permanent antimicrobial coatings that may be applied to a wide range of medical devices. The novelty and commercial potential of our technology has been recognized throughout the entrepreneurial community through awards such as first place in both the MIT 100K and the Oxford University business plan competitions. Our process of permanently attaching custom-designed, broad- spectrum antimicrobial peptides (AmPs) to versatile coatings will enable us to overcome the inherent scientific limitations of existing slow-release coatings such as limited long-term efficacy, systemic toxicity, and the development of bacterial resistance. In this application, SteriCoat is designing optimized agents for permanent coatings to prevent the infection of medical devices of any size, shape or material. This coating will overcome the inherent scientific limitations of existing slow-release technologies.