Natural extracellular vesicle hybrids as antibiotic carriers

Ziel

Antibiotic resistance has rapidly increased over the past decades, resulting in an estimated 1.3 million annual deaths globally, with 35,000 in the EU alone, making it one of the top threats to humanity according to the World Health Organization. The frequent misuse of antibiotics and inadequate clinical hygiene practices contribute to the rise of resistant bacteria, highlighting the urgent need for innovative strategies to combat bacterial infections and avert a post-antibiotic era. Concurrently, the decline in newly approved antibiotic agents exacerbates the demand for improved therapies. Initiatives such as “One Health” aim to enhance antimicrobial use and policy while seeking alternatives to conventional antibiotics.

A promising strategy to address bacterial resistance involves encapsulating antibiotics in nanocarriers, leading to the development of nanoantibiotics. These carriers facilitate efficient delivery to infection sites while minimizing side effects. However, synthetic carriers suffer from poor biocompatibility, rapid clearance from circulation, and suboptimal target-specificity.

Our project focuses on developing nanoantibiotics based on natural extracellular vesicles (EVs), known for their low immunogenicity and selective target cell interaction. We previously presented the first protocol for fusion of bacterial EVs with liposomes to obtain highly tuneable EV-hybrid carriers. Our ongoing research into fusogenic EV systems has shown promise in effectively loading antibiotics and demonstrated their antimicrobial efficacy in in vitro and in vivo models. This PoC project aims to scale up the production of such hybrids and explore their potential as a versatile platform technology for various antibiotics. Additionally, we collaborate with a pharmaceutical industry partner and our spin-off service to create a marketing strategy and IP rights commercialisation to overall accelerate the application of these versatile carriers.