Dataset Information

Living Bacterial Microneedles for Fungal Infection Treatment.

ABSTRACT: 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, Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), 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 B. subtilis 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.

SUBMITTER: Wang F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7877375 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Living Bacterial Microneedles for Fungal Infection Treatment.

Wang Fengyuan F Zhang Xiaoxuan X Chen Guopu G Zhao Yuanjin Y

Research (Washington, D.C.) 20201112

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, <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> (<i>B. subtilis</i>), which are naturally found on the human skin and widely used for ...[more]

PMID: 33623902

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Project description:AIM:To investigate the early diagnostic methods of bacterial and fungal infection in patients with chronic cholestatic hepatitis B. METHODS:One hundred and one adult in-patients with chronic hepatitis B were studied and divided into 3 groups: direct bilirubin (DBil)/total bilirubin (TBil) > or = 0.5, without bacterial and fungal infection (group A, n=38); DBil/TBil <0.5, without bacterial and fungal infection (group B, n=23); DBil/TBil> or = 0.5, with bacterial or fungal infection (group C, n=40). The serum biochemical index and pulse rate were analyzed. RESULTS:Level of TBil, DBil, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and DBil/ALP in group A increased compared with that in group B. The level of ALP in group C decreased compared with that in group A, whereas the level of TBil, DBil and DBil/ALP increased (ALP: 156+/-43, 199+/-68, respectively, P<0.05; TBil: 370+/-227, 220+/-206, respectively, P<0.01; DBil: 214+/-143, 146+/-136, respectively, P<0.01; DBil/ALP: 1.65+/-1.05, 0.78+/-0.70, respectively, P<0.001). The level of DBil and infection affected DBil/ALP. Independent of the effect of DBil, infection caused DBil/ALP to rise (P<0.05). The pulse rate in group A decreased compared with that in group B (63.7+/-6.4, 77.7+/-11.4, respectively, P<0.001), and the pulse rate in group C increased compared with that in group A (81.2+/-12.2, 63.7+/-6.4, respectively, P<0.001). The equation (infection=0.218 pusle rate +1.064 DBil/ALP -16.361), with total accuracy of 85.5%, was obtained from stepwise logistic regression. Pulse rate (> or =80/min) and DBil/ALP (> or =1.0) were used to screen infection. The sensitivity was 62.5% and 64.7% respectively, and the specificity was 100% and 82.8% respectively. CONCLUSION:Bacterial and fungal infection deteriorate jaundice and increase pulse rate, decrease serum ALP and increase DBil/ALP. Pulse rate, DBil/ALP and the equation (infection=0.218 pusle rate+1.064 DBil/ALP-16.361) are helpful to early diagnosis of bacterial and fungal infection in patients with chronic cholestatic hepatitis B.

Project description:BackgroundCerebrospinal fluid shunt infection can be recalcitrant. Recurrence is common despite appropriate therapy for the pathogens identified by culture. Improved diagnostic and therapeutic approaches are required, and culture-independent molecular approaches to cerebrospinal fluid shunt infections have not been described.ObjectivesTo identify the bacteria and fungi present in cerebrospinal fluid from children with cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection using a high-throughput sequencing approach, and to compare those results to those from negative controls and conventional culture.MethodsThis descriptive study included eight children ≤18 years old undergoing treatment for culture-identified cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection. After routine aerobic culture of each cerebrospinal fluid sample, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction was followed by amplification of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and the fungal ITS DNA region tag-encoded FLX-Titanium amplicon pyrosequencing and microbial phylogenetic analysis.ResultsThe microbiota analyses for the initial cerebrospinal fluid samples from all eight infections identified a variety of bacteria and fungi, many of which did not grow in conventional culture. Detection by conventional culture did not predict the relative abundance of an organism by pyrosequencing, but in all cases, at least one bacterial taxon was detected by both conventional culture and pyrosequencing. Individual bacterial species fluctuated in relative abundance but remained above the limits of detection during infection treatment.ConclusionsNumerous bacterial and fungal organisms were detected in these cerebrospinal fluid shunt infections, even during and after treatment, indicating diverse and recalcitrant shunt microbiota. In evaluating cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection, fungal and anaerobic bacterial cultures should be considered in addition to aerobic bacterial cultures, and culture-independent approaches offer a promising alternative diagnostic approach. More effective treatment of cerebrospinal fluid shunt infections is needed to reduce unacceptably high rates of reinfection, and this work suggests that one effective strategy may be reduction of the diverse microbiota present in infection.

Dataset Information

Living Bacterial Microneedles for Fungal Infection Treatment.

Publications

Living Bacterial Microneedles for Fungal Infection Treatment.

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