Nanomaterials for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Urinary Tract Infections

Abstract

The diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs) remain challenging due to the lack of convenient assessment techniques and to the resistance to conventional antimicrobial therapy, showing the need for novel approaches to address such problems. In this regard, nanotechnology has a strong potential for both the diagnosis and therapy of UTIs via controlled delivery of antimicrobials upon stable, effective and sustained drug release. On one side, nanoscience allowed the production of various nanomaterial-based evaluation tools as precise, effective, and rapid procedures for the identification of UTIs. On the other side, nanotechnology brought tremendous breakthroughs for the treatment of UTIs based on the use of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) for instance, owing to the antimicrobial properties of metals, or of surface-tailored nanocarriers, allowing to overcome multidrug-resistance and prevent biofilm formation via targeted drug delivery to desired sites of action and preventing the development of cytotoxic processes in healthy cells. The goal of the current study is therefore to present the newest developments for the diagnosis and treatment of UTIs based on nanotechnology procedures in relation to the currently available techniques.

Keywords: diagnosis; multidrug resistance; surface-tailored nanomedicines; therapy; urinary tract infections.

Figure 1

Current methods and nanotechnology approaches for the diagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Figure 2

Mechanisms of action of metallic NPs against UTIs.

Figure 3

Conjugation of histatin 5 and amphotericin B with NPs. (A) conjugation of histatin 5 with chitosan and conjugation of a redox linker with amphotericin B (a), self-assembly of NPs through disulfide bonds between polymeric chains and formation of micelles through hydrophobic interaction of amphotericin B (b), pH-dependent activation of the targeting ligand, i.e., histatin 5 (c), release of amphotericin B through a reduction mechanism within the fungal cell (d). (B) Targeted uptake and intraendosomal release of amphotericin B and synergistic action of histatin B against fungal destruction. Reproduced from [147], with permission from Elsevier, 2021.