PHORTUNA Project

Coordinator

Ali Makky (IGPS)

Université Paris-Saclay

Keywords

Photoresponsive assembly, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, biofilm, bacterial resistance, intracellular bacteria

Summary

The antimicrobial resistance has become a global health concern. The World Health Organization has predicted a drastic rise in antimicrobial resistance deaths due to drug-resistant bacteria from ~700,000 per year to 10 million per year in ~2050. These estimated projections may be further exacerbated by the overuse of antibiotics in hospitalized patients especially during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, despite the rare incidence of bacterial co-infections. Consequently, alternative and efficient antimicrobial modalities such as phototherapeutics that do not require the use of antibiotics and lower the economic and health burdens on both healthcare systems and pharmaceutical industries represent an urgent unmet clinical need.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) that rely on the generation of heat and reactive oxygen species upon the illumination of photoactive materials have emerged as promising antimicrobial approach for localized bacterial infections such as wounds and subcutaneous infections. Moreover, combining PTT and PDT within a single nanoplatform can exert a synergistic effect and improve the treatment outcomes. However, the design of such nanoplatforms requires usually a multicomponent strategy and presents several shortcomings in terms of complexity and collateral damage of healthy tissues that jeopardize clinical translation.