Nanomedicine: Using Nanostructures to Combat Drug-Resistant Bacteria

The incredible drug resistance exhibited by some bacteria has been a source of concern for medical authorities for years. Most threatening is the seeming cyclical effect of it all-- strain becomes resistant to antibiotic, strain treated with stronger dose, strain acclimates to dose... and so on. However, recent developments have been made in the field of nanomedicine that offer respite from such a troubling pattern. Antimicrobial agents have been created that mimic the amphiphathic characteristic of peptides in a way that allows them to associate with the microbial membranes of certain bacteria. Once there, they can recruit additonal polymer molecules which result in the actual physical destruction of the membrane. As opposed to many traditional antibiotics (which inhibit certain functional pathways of the pathogen), these nanostructures alter the morphology of the bacteria and eliminate the risk of the development of a drug resistance.

Success has been found with many Gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA, whose drug resistance to methicillin is a huge problem in hospitals. The implications of studies such as this one are incredible- the quick destruction of bacteria eliminates the threat of breeding a "super-bug" that may one day be completely untreatable by modern medicine. Most exciting to me in my interest to pursue a medical career, is that this study casts hope in the direction of a multitude of other diseases--including viruses such as HIV--through the successful creation of a nanostructure that can interact with a pathogenic membrane. If other materials can be synthesized to interact with and compromise the ever-changing membranes of life-threatening viruses, we may move one step closer to finding an effective treatment for diseases that seem unstoppable today.

http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v3/n5/full/nchem.1012.html#/results-and-discussion