Could Nanoparticles Be Useful Lung Infection Fighters?

Researchers have hope in nanoparticles loaded with antibiotics.

An international team of researchers thinks nanoparticles when it comes to delivering antibiotics directly to the site of an infection, and helping prevent bacteria from forming biofilms that protect the infection from the antibiotics.

Researchers from Germany, Brazil, and France have demonstrated that nanoparticles infused with clarithromycin—a common antibiotic for respiratory infections—can mimic the process that occurs after inhalation in vivo, by delivering through aerosol deposition to lung cells, according to a news release from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research.

For now the work has all been in vitro, using human bronchial cells. Researchers hope to evaluate its effectiveness in animal models next, with mice the most likely candidate. They would also like to load the nanoparticles with other drugs commonly used against lung infections, particularly ones that frequently become drug-resistant after continues treatments. The team believes that the research so far can lead to increased treatment efficacy, while overcoming drug resistance, and releasing antibiotics more effectively over a sustained period of time.

If it pans out, the technique could be a godsend, because respiratory diseases are often difficult to treat. Drugs such as antibiotics have to be carried across biological barriers such as respiratory tissue and mucosa, requiring high doses in the hopes that enough can reach the site of the infection. This can also lead the body to metabolizing the antibiotics too quickly, before they can effectively treat the infection.

Researchers looked to use the microscopic size of nanoparticles in an effort to carry the antibiotic drugs into the body and penetrate the bacteria located in either biofilms, or inside individual lung cells. Both locations have never been conducive to effective drug delivery through traditional routes, so finding a carrying agent for the antibiotics has been a difficult undertaking.

Nanoparticles continue to be used for an array of medical applications. Last year British researchers used self-assembling nanoparticles to sharpen MRI images of cancerous tumors, while researchers from Texas began looking into drug-infused nanoparticles to find and destroy blood clots with unprecedented efficiency. The common theme being that researchers are looking to take advantage of the tiny size of nanoparticles, and load them with drugs that can specifically target and eliminate bacteria and infection in the body.

The nanoparticles used by the European and Brazilian researchers were created from a biodegradable polymer oil and stabilizer. The nanparticles were then equipped with the antibiotic payload. The entire nanoparticle package was designed to be roughly the same size as a virus, allowing it to squeeze through small passages in an effort to reach any bacterial site.

Researchers began testing these nanoparticles using Staphylococcus aureus as the target bacteria, a bacteria that currently runs rampant in clinical environments, and also plays a crucial role in the lung infections commonly associated with cystic fibrosis. The tiny nanoparticles were able to access the bacterial site and attack bacteria without any toxic effect on all cell types tested.