Wang Fengyuan, Zhang Xiaoxuan, Chen Guopu, Zhao Yuanjin
Department of Burns & Plastic Surgery, Institute of Translational Medicine, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China.
Department of Dermatology, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China.
Research (Wash D C). 2020 Nov 12;2020:2760594. doi: 10.34133/2020/2760594. eCollection 2020.
Fungal infections are everlasting health challenges all over the world, bringing about great financial and medical burdens. Here, inspired by the natural competition law of beneficial bacteria against other microbes, we present novel living microneedles (LMNs) with functionalized bacteria encapsulation for efficient fungal infection treatment. The chosen beneficial bacterial components, (), which are naturally found on the human skin and widely used for food processing, can get nutrients from the skin and escape from the immune system with the help of microneedles. Besides, the encapsulated can continuously produce and secrete various potential antifungal agents which can directly bind to fungal cell surface-associated proteins and destruct the cell membranes, thus avoiding drug resistance. After immobilization in the LMNs, the bacteria can stay within the LMNs without invasion and the encapsulated bacteria together with microneedles can be removed after application. Thus, the side effects, especially the risk for subsequent bacterial infections, are controlled to a minimum to ensure security. In addition, strong penetrability of the microneedles enhances penetration of antifungal agents, and their heights can be adjusted according to the infected depth to acquire better therapeutic effects. These features make the LMNs potentially valuable for clinical applications.
真菌感染是全球长期存在的健康挑战，带来了巨大的经济和医疗负担。在此，受有益细菌与其他微生物自然竞争规律的启发，我们提出了一种新型的活微针（LMNs），其封装了功能化细菌，用于高效治疗真菌感染。所选用的有益细菌成分（），天然存在于人体皮肤上并广泛用于食品加工，它可以从皮肤获取营养，并借助微针逃避免疫系统。此外，封装的（）能够持续产生和分泌各种潜在的抗真菌剂，这些抗真菌剂可以直接结合到真菌细胞表面相关蛋白并破坏细胞膜，从而避免耐药性。固定在LMNs中后，细菌可以停留在LMNs内而不侵入，并且在应用后，封装的细菌与微针可以一起被去除。因此，副作用，尤其是后续细菌感染的风险，被控制在最低限度以确保安全性。此外，微针的强穿透性增强了抗真菌剂的渗透，并且它们的高度可以根据感染深度进行调整以获得更好的治疗效果。这些特性使得LMNs在临床应用中具有潜在价值。
