Hyaluronic acid association with bacterial, fungal and viral infections: Can hyaluronic acid be used as an antimicrobial polymer for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications?

Fernanda Zamboni; Chun Kwok Wong; Maurice N Collins

doi:10.1016/j.bioactmat.2022.04.023

Hyaluronic acid association with bacterial, fungal and viral infections: Can hyaluronic acid be used as an antimicrobial polymer for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications?

Bioact Mater. 2022 May 2:19:458-473. doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2022.04.023. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Fernanda Zamboni^{1

2}, Chun Kwok Wong³, Maurice N Collins^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Bernal Institute, School of Engineering, University of Limerick, Ireland.
² Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Ireland.
³ Department of Chemical Pathology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Abstract

The relationships between hyaluronic acid (HA) and pathological microorganisms incite new understandings on microbial infection, tissue penetration, disease progression and lastly, potential treatments. These understandings are important for the advancement of next generation antimicrobial therapeutical strategies for the control of healthcare-associated infections. Herein, this review will focus on the interplay between HA, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. This review will also comprehensively detail and discuss the antimicrobial activity displayed by various HA molecular weights for a variety of biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, including microbiology, pharmaceutics, and tissue engineering.

Keywords: Antibacterial; Antifungal; Antiviral; Hyaluronic acid; Hyaluronidase; Virulence.

Publication types

Review