The long-standing misuse of antibiotics has accelerated the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, which gives rise to an urgent public health threat. Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT), as a burgeoning and promising antibacterial strategy, plays an essential role in avoiding the evolution of drug-resistant microbes. However, it is hard for conventional photosensitizers to achieve satisfactory antibacterial efficacy because of the complex bacterial infectious microenvironment (BIME). Herein, a cascade BIME-triggered near-infrared cyanine (HA-CY) nanoplatform has been developed via conjugating cyanine units to biocompatible hyaluronic acid (HA) for enhanced aPDT efficacy. The HA-CY nanoparticles can be dissociated under the overexpressed hyaluronidase in BIME to release a cyanine photosensitizer. Meanwhile, cyanine can be protonated under acidic BIME, where protonated cyanine can efficiently adhere to the surface of a negatively charged bacterial membrane and increase singlet oxygen production due to intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). Experiments in the cellular level and animal model proved that the BIME-triggered activation of aPDT could remarkably boost aPDT efficacy. Overall, this BIME-triggered HA-CY nanoplatform presents great promise for overcoming the dilemma of drug-resistant microbes.
Keywords: antibacterial photodynamic therapy; bacterial infectious microenvironment (BIME); cyanine; hyaluronic acid.