The present invention relates to formulations containing one or more antimicrobial components. In particular, the present invention relates to microorganism-targeted nanoformulations containing one or more antimicrobial components.
Pathogenic bacteria cause serious infections that threaten human health and many chronic diseases associated with biofilm formation (skin/mucosa and soft tissue infections such as folliculitis, impetigo, hidradenitis suppurativa, mastitis, wound infections, common pyodermia; bacteremia and endocarditis, pneumonia, bone/joint infections such as osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, septic bursitis, etc.). The treatment of infections using antibiotics was started with penicillin by A. Fleming in 1928, which was effectively used to control bacterial infections particularly during World War II, so lived its golden age until the 1940s. However, it has been detected in those years that the S. aureus strain is resistant against penicillin and the ensuing methicillin, which revealed that the treatment of infections should be carried out more consciously. Due to the antibiotic resistance resulting from the widespread and unconscious consumption of antibiotics, accompanied by a decrease in the rate of development of new agents, multidrug resistant, extensively drug resistant and pandrug-resistant bacteria strains have begun to be frequently identified and nowadays, fears of a “post-antibiotic era”—a time when many bacterial infections cannot be cured—have started to be expressed loudly. It is the resistant pathogenic bacteria that cause nosocomial infections, especially with a high mortality rate. According to the most recent data published by the World Health Organization, the hospital infection rate in our country is 13.4%. The 2015 UHESA (National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance Network) data report of the Public Health Agency of Turkey states that carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (68.9%) comes first in the distribution of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens among the bacteria that cause nosocomial infections, while methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCNS) (67.84%) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (44.8%) being the second and the third (Gözel 2016). Innovative approaches are required to prevent this situation.
Considering the difficulties in the traditional discovery and development of antimicrobial agents, it is now considered as a rational solution to eliminate antibiotic-resistant microorganisms using unconventional approaches. For this purpose, the following types of approaches are among the techniques that have started to be used commercially in recent years (Gao, W., Thamphiwatana, S., Angsantikul, P. and Zhang, L. 2014. “Nanoparticle approaches against bacterial infections.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Nanomedicine Nanobiotechnology, 6(6), 532-547; Czaplewski, L., Bax, R., Clokie, M., Dawson, M., et al. 2016. “Alternatives to antibiotics—a pipeline portfolio review.” The Lancet infectious diseases, 16(2), 239-251.; Hauser, A. R., Mecsas, J. and Moir, D. T. 2016. “Beyond antibiotics: new therapeutic approaches for bacterial infections.” Clinical Infectious Diseases, 63(1), 89-95.; Hussain, S., Joo, J., Kang, J., Kim, B., et al. 2018. “Antibiotic-loaded nanoparticles targeted to the site of infection enhance antibacterial efficacy.” Nature biomedical engineering, 2(2), 95; Altamirano, F. L. G., Jeremy J 2019. “Phage therapy in the postantibiotic era.” Clinical microbiology reviews, 32(2), e00066-00018):
Bacteriophages themselves (wild-type lytic phages) or lysine enzymes are currently used for antibacterial therapy. These practices can be summarized in paragraphs (a) and (b) below:
For all these reasons, there is still a need for further improvement of the formulations that exhibit high efficiency in the treatment of infections.
The main object of the invention is to provide solutions to the problems mentioned in the prior art.
The present invention provides a nanostructure for lysis of a pathogenic bacteria in mammals. Said nanostructure comprises one or more antimicrobial components loaded into one or more carrier components forming a core portion. The nanostructure also comprises one or more bacteriophage receptor binding proteins and/or one or more peptide sequences of the said bacteriophage receptor binding protein, attached on the said core portion.
In one embodiment of the invention, the nanostructure comprises one or more bacteriophage receptor binding proteins attached on the said core portion, in which case it can be considered that the nanostructure does not contain one or more peptide sequences alone.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the nanostructure comprises one or more peptide sequences of the said one or more bacteriophage receptor binding proteins attached on the said core portion, in which case it can be considered that the nanostructure does not contain the bacteriophage receptor binding protein as a whole.
In another alternative embodiment of the invention, the nanostructure may comprise said one or more bacteriophage receptor binding proteins, and one or more peptide sequences of the said one or more bacteriophage receptor binding proteins, together, as attached on the said core portion.
Any version of the nanostructure of the invention may comprise, as an antimicrobial component, one or more of the following: one or more antibiotics, one or more antimicrobial peptides, one or more secondary metabolites, or one or more antimicrobial agents. In this respect, any version of the nanostructure may comprise one or more elements selected from the following: one or more antibiotics selected from vancomycin, oxacillin, and gentamicin; one or more antimicrobial peptides selected from magainin, alamethicin, and pexiganan; one or more secondary metabolites selected from juglone, quercetin, and catechin, as an antimicrobial component. The antimicrobial agent used in any version of the nanostructure of the invention may also be one or more antimicrobial agents known in the relevant art to be suitable for antimicrobial purposes.
Any version of the nanostructure of the invention may comprise, as a carrier component, one or more elements selected from the following: one or more proteins, one or more polymers, one or more lipids. Alternatively, or additionally, the carrier component may comprise one or more carrier molecules known in the art for this purpose. In this respect, any version of the nanostructure may comprise, as a carrier component, one or more elements selected from the following: one or more proteins selected from bovine serum albumin, human serum albumin, and ovalbumin; one or more polymers selected from PLGA, PLMA, and PCL; one or more lipids selected from 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine.
Any version of the nanostructure of the invention may preferably have a diameter less than 500 nm and a PDI value less than 0.5.
The present invention also discloses a method for producing any version of the nanostructure of the invention. In this context, the method is a method for producing a nanostructure for lysis of a pathogenic bacteria in mammals, comprising one or more antimicrobial components loaded into one or more carrier components forming a core portion, also comprising one or more bacteriophage receptor binding proteins and/or one or more peptide sequences of the said bacteriophage receptor binding protein, attached on the said core portion. Said method comprises the following steps of:
The drawings, whose brief description is provided below are just given for better understanding of the present invention and as such, are not intended to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter, in the absence of the description.
The design of the nanoformulations according to the present invention is aimed at obtaining nanoformulations targeted to the relevant organisms that can be effective in the treatment of diseases caused by bacteria (due to increases in the distribution of resistant pathogens in the hospital-acquired infections, for example especially in Turkey, because of data accessibility, and mortality rates) and comprising antimicrobial component(s), in order to provide unique therapeutic agents.
The present improvement is directed to a nanostructure (5) comprising a bacteriophage receptor binding protein (1) (RBP), and, in addition or alternatively, a peptide sequence (2) of the bacteriophage receptor binding protein. Said RBP (1) and the peptide sequence (2) of the RBP, respectively, may be considered as corresponding to the following:
The nanostructure (5) of the invention may be considered as a nanoformulation and may also be referred to as “nanoformulation” throughout the description.
In the present description, the term “RBP (1)” can be considered as corresponding to one or more RBPs (1) of the type that will cause bacteriophage binding. The term “peptide sequence (2) of RBP (1)” is that one or more RBPs (1) conforming to the description in the previous sentence correspond to the peptide sequence (2) that exhibits receptor-ligand interaction and appears to have a high (preferably highest) score as a result of molecular docking and simulations.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the nanostructure (5) may comprise RBP (1) alone on the carrier component (4) loaded with the antimicrobial component (3) (see, the exemplary embodiment in
The function of both RBP (1) and the peptide sequence (2) of the bacteriophage receptor binding protein is to directly target the bacterial cell. An RBP (1) or a peptide sequence (2) thereof used in the invention may be located at a distal end of the nanostructure (5) with respect to a base plate (i.e., a core portion of the carrier component (4), that is, a core portion in the nanostructure (5)). Thus, by interacting with proteins, saccharides, and organelles in units such as peptidoglycan, wall teichoic acids (WTA) and lipoteichoic acid located on a wall surface of a bacterial cell, it induces inactivation of the bacteria by means of the antimicrobial component(s) (3) in the nanostructure (5).
The present invention may also include process steps for obtaining RBP (1) using any one of the methods within the general knowledge of the relevant technical field. For an exemplary case where RBP (1) is obtained by recombinant DNA technology, said method may include the following steps, respectively:
As an indication of industrial applicability: e.g., cyclic 9-amino-acid peptide CARGGLKSC (CARG) (Hussain, S., Joo, J., Kang, J., Kim, B., et al. 2018. “Antibiotic-loaded nanoparticles targeted to the site of infection enhance antibacterial efficacy.” Nature biomedical engineering, 2(2), 95), for example may be used as a targeting peptide (2) for S. aureus. New peptide sequences (2) suitable for targeting both S. aureus and other bacteria may be bioinformatically detected by molecular docking and simulations. Peptide sequences (2) may be synthesized and purified by methods known in the literature (e.g., microwave-assisted solid phase peptide synthesis method: Derman, S., Kizilbey, K., Mansuroglu, B. and Mustafaeva, Z. 2014. “Synthesis and characterization of canine parvovirus (CPV) VP2 W-7L-20 synthetic peptide for synthetic vaccine.” Fresen Environ Bull, 23 (2A), 558-566).
In addition, one or more antimicrobial components (3) are included in the nanoformulation of the present invention. The function of this element is to ensure the lysis of targeted bacteria. Examples of antimicrobial components (3) may include antibiotics (vancomycin, oxacillin, etc.), antimicrobial peptides (magainins, alamethicin, pexiganan, etc.), and secondary metabolites (juglone, quercetin, catechin, etc.). Said one or more antimicrobial components (3) correspond to one or more molecules that have a natural or synthetic antibacterial action leading to lysis of a targeted bacteria.
In the literature, there is no publication describing bacteria targeting through conjugation of a nanosystem/nanoformulation/nanostructure (1) loaded with one or more antimicrobial components (3) (e.g., vancomycin, oxacillin) with one or more RBP (1) and/or peptide sequences (2).
In addition to the nanostructure (5) of the present invention may also include one or more carrier components (4), which are known to be suitable for use in pharmaceutical production, and selected from proteins, lipids, and polymers. The carrier component (4) allows said one or more antimicrobial components (3) to be transported within the nanostructure (5). Because of their widespread use in the state of the art, the following can be listed as examples of materials suitable for use as a carrier component (4):
When the nanostructure (5) is formed, the carrier component (4) can be located in the center of the nanostructure (5) by being loaded into one or more antimicrobial components (3) described above; alternatively, or additionally, it may extend outwards from the center.
By suitably combining the above elements, a bacteria-targeted nanostructure (5) comprising one or more antimicrobial component(s) (3) is achieved with the present invention.
It is preferred that the nanostructure (5) has a diameter (size) less than 500 nm and a PDI value less than 0.5. This makes one or more of the following simultaneously possible: protection of the antimicrobial component(s) (3) from biological degradation, thus allowing the components to remain in systematic circulation for a long period of time; performing controlled releases of the antimicrobial component(s) (3); and carrying the RBP (1) and/or the peptide sequence (2) directly targeting the bacterial cell on its surface.
A suggested way of obtaining the nanostructures (5) of the invention can be described as follows:
Providing one or more RBPs (1) and/or one or more peptide sequences (2) thereof. Providing one or more antimicrobial components (3) (by any one of the methods within the general knowledge in the relevant technical field, e.g., single emulsion, multiple emulsion, solvent coaservation, emulsification, etc.,). Providing one or more carrier components (4) to form a core portion of the nanostructure (5) to be produced (by any one of the methods within the general knowledge in the relevant technical field). Loading/attaching said one or more antimicrobial components (3) into the carrier component(s) (4) constituting the said core portion (by any one of the methods within the general knowledge in the relevant technical field). Binding one or more RBPs (1) and/or one or more peptide sequences (2) thereof that are provided, on the core portion loaded with the antimicrobial component(s) (3) (by any one of the methods within the general knowledge in the relevant technical field, e.g., bioconjugation methods).
The targeting phase of the invention (which may be considered as a first step) can be accomplished using the following strategy(s);
Then, nanostructures (5) that are loaded and targeted, and containing the antimicrobial component(s) (3) may be obtained (which may be considered as a second step of the method). As an example, it is possible to perform bioinformatical detection and synthetic production of the peptide sequences (2) of RBP (1) that bind to a binding site on the cell wall of a bacterium (e.g., S. aureus cell) with the highest binding energy. For this purpose, a loaded carrier component (4) (e.g., a micellar form biopolymer) containing the antimicrobial component(s) (3) is first produced. The surface of the said carrier component (4) obtained to form a core portion is modified by conjugation of the bacteriophage receptor binding protein (RBP (1)) and/or peptide sequences (2) thereof. Thus, direct targeting may be achieved (in this example, direct targeting of the bacterium S. aureus is achieved).
Thus, nanostructures (5) containing antimicrobial component(s) (3) are produced. With the antimicrobial component(s) (3), the nanostructure (5) exhibits a synergistic effect.
Thanks to the improvement of the present invention, the potential of both RBP (1) and the peptide sequences (2) thereof to be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes is ascertained.
Thanks to the nanostructure (5) of the present invention, contrary to the paragraph (a) in the “background art” section: the RBP (1) and/or the peptide sequence (2) thereof causing the binding of the bacteriophage can be used for targeting purposes. Thus, instead of delivering a living phage (virus) to the host, it is possible for the antimicrobial component(s) (3) constrained in the nanostructure (5) to directly lyse the bacterial cell.
Furthermore, thanks to the nanostructure (5) of the present invention, contrary to the paragraph (b) in the “background art” section: The RBP (1) and/or the peptide sequence (2) thereof used in targeting can bind to wall teichoic acid (WTA) units in a wall of a targeted cell. WTA are phosphate-rich anionic glycopolymers covalently bonded to peptidoglycan in Gram-positive bacteria. (L Li, X., Koc, C., Kuhner, P., Stierhof, Y.-D., et al. 2016. “An essential role for the baseplate protein Gp45 in phage adsorption to Staphylococcus aureus.” Scientific reports, 6, 26455). By obtaining the bacteriophage receptor binding protein (RBP (1)) or synthetically producing the peptide sequence (2) thereof with the highest binding energy, the resulting product is conjugated on a core portion to obtain the nanostructure (5), as a result of which direct bacteria targeting is rendered possible. Thus, using the antimicrobial component(s) (3) together with the phage receptor binding protein/peptide (i.e., RBP (1) and/or the peptide sequence (2) thereof) located on the surface of the encapsulated nanostructure (5), the relevant bacterial strains are directly targeted in this study, so that an effect just like the phage therapy may be created, and the effectiveness of the bacterial lysis may be further increased.
Each stage of the method for producing the nanostructure (5) of the invention is suitable for production with high quantity and capacity. The subject-matter of the invention is particularly specific for industrial establishments serving in the field of health and pharmacy. A method of administration of the nanostructures (5) loaded with antimicrobial component(s) (3) and targeted to bacteria, which is the final product planned to be obtained, in infectious diseases, is the same as the administration of antibiotics (e.g., vancomycin, oxacillin) (e.g., IV-intravenous, IM-intramuscular, etc.) For example, in the presence of antibiotic resistance in a patient hospitalized in an intensive care unit with S. aureus infection; the nanostructure (5) targeted against the respective bacterium with the peptide/recombinant protein (RBP (1)) attached thereon and/or the peptide sequence (2) thereof, and containing one or more antimicrobial components (3) (e.g. antibiotics such as vancomycin, ampicillin, oxacillin, etc.; antimicrobial peptides such as magainines, alamethicin, pexiganan, etc.; secondary peptides such as juglone, quercetin, catechin, etc.) is administered, which then selectively bind to the wall teichoic acid (WTA) units on the surface of S. aureus, thereby resulting in the treatment of the infection by rapidly eradicating the relevant bacteria. At the same time, the disadvantages of the antimicrobial component(s) (3) with low water solubility or short half-life in the biological system can be eliminated.
Thanks to the inventive improvement, the deficiencies of the prior art have been eliminated and the aforementioned problems have been solved.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2020/14396 | Sep 2020 | TR | national |
This application is the national phase entry of International Application No. PCT/IB2020/001052, filed on Dec. 7, 2020, which is based upon and claims priority to Turkish Patent Application No. 2020/14396, filed on Sep. 10, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2020/001052 | 12/7/2020 | WO |