NANO-FORMULATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF BACTERIAL INFECTIONS

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In recent years, intensive research has focused on finding antimicrobial therapies. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) - cationic peptides consisting of 12-45 amino acids, have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics. AMPs can stop bacteria from proliferation and thus bacteria could not develop any resistance to them. Though AMPs are regarded as a new class of antibiotics and also a good alternative, several problems need to be addressed before their use in the clinical field. The AMPs are easily prone to degradation by proteolytic enzymes present in human body even before reaching the infected site. As a result, there is a need to engineer delivery carriers for AMPs to protect them from early degradation and ensuring their direct delivery to the infected sites. With our extensive research on polymer nanoparticles/hydrogels technology, we suggest the use polymer nanoparticles/nanogels/hydrogels as AMPs nanocarriers. Polymers can be engineered in a multitude of ways such that they are non-toxic, can easily encapsulate molecules or macromolecules and can be metabolized in human body. The AMPs-loaded polymer nanoparticles will be further modified for specific management routes which will improve their clinical efficacy. In order to be used for respiratory delivery, polymer nanoparticles will be coated with natural muco-adhesive polymers and delivered via nebulisation. For the treatment of infectious wounds, they will be entrapped in cellulose nanocrystal based hydrogels and used as wound dressings. We hypothesize that polymer nanoparticles loaded with AMPs can successfully overcome infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. The use of AMPs-loaded nanoparticles in clinics can potentially reduce our reliance on conventional antibiotics that are used on a daily basis and prevent progress of bacterial resistance. It will improve the overall health of patients and also decrease treatment cost. This project will provide a framework in understanding the interactions of selected antimicrobial peptides and polymer nanoparticles/hydrogels, efficacy of peptide encapsulation and release kinetics, and their biological properties.