Posted by The EU FP7 International Training Project (FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2013-608407) arrived to the end (2014-2018).
The worldwide spread of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms can be viewed as an ecological consequence of the systematic use of antimicrobial agents. Resistant bacteria prevail in healthcare environments where antibiotic selective pressure is intensive. Novel therapeutic approaches are urgently required to deliver the well-documented existing drugs in an optimized fashion to: i) protect them toward degradation; ii) increase their bioavailability; iii) reduce toxic side effects; iv) increase patient compliance and iv) reduce treatment duration and related costs. In this sense, nanocarriers based on cyclodextrins (CDs) are particularly appealing for the delivery of antibiotics. This approach is of main interest for tuberculosis (TB), infections related to Salmonella Typhimurium, Staphyloccocus aureus and for species most frequently implicated in hospital infections such as enteric gram-negative rods.
CD-based nanocarriers were designed and characterized, their ability to encapsulate drugs was tested, their efficacy in vitro on bacteria and infected cells studied. The best formulation was tested in vivo and scaled up. The objectives of the CycloN Hit project were to take full advantage of nanotechnology and of the high level interdisciplinary expertise of the partners to efficiently encapsulate and protect antibiotics in nanocarriers to combat resistant bacteria, and study the mechanisms in biological systems using state-of-the art techniques.
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