Copper-Cysteine Nanostructures for Synergetic Photothermal Therapy and Chemodynamic Therapy of Bacterial Skin Abscesses Publisher



Bagheri H¹ ; Bochani S¹ ; Seyedhamzeh M¹ ; Shokri Z² ; Kalantarihesari A³ ; Turner RJ⁴ ; Kharaziha M⁵ ; Esmaeilzadeh K⁶ ; Golami M⁷ ; Zeighami H⁸ ; Maleki A¹
Source: Advanced Therapeutics Published:2024

Abstract

Skin lesions, including skin bacterial abscesses, have become one of the most important health challenges and usually need systemic high-dose antibiotics. Therefore, it is of particular importance to develop novel approaches for treating this ever-growing challenge to human health. To address this challenge, herein a copper nanostructure is developed giving combined photothermal and chemodynamic therapies for focal infection treatment. The Cu-based nanostructures with intrinsic catalytic properties are prepared by D-L or L cysteine (Cys) as ligand and copper ions. It is shown that the multifunctional copper-Cys (Cu-Cys) nanostructures can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and they exhibit near infrared (NIR)-enhanced catalytic activities to improve ROS production for highly efficient eradication of bacteria. Moreover, the results proved O2 evolution property of the Cu-Cys nanoparticles (NPs). The nanostructures show shape-dependent antibacterial activity where DL-Cu-Cys NPs show higher bactericidal performance than L-Cu-Cys NPs. In vitro results demonstrate that 2.5 and 1.25 µg mL−1 of DL-Cu-Cys NPs is enough to achieve rapid killing of Escherichia coli (E. coli) or Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) respectively under 808 nm light irradiation in 10 min. This work introduces a unique photoactive nanoagent to efficiently treat subcutaneous abscess by combining NIR light-triggered photothermal effect and catalytic generation of ROS without using any antibiotic. © 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.