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Glyconanomaterials for Combating Bacterial Infections
Author(s) -
Ramström Olof,
Yan Mingdi
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201502842
Subject(s) - efflux , effector , antibiotics , context (archaeology) , drug , antibiotic resistance , human health , drug resistance , drug delivery , risk analysis (engineering) , biochemical engineering , computational biology , biology , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , pharmacology , engineering , immunology , materials science , environmental health , biochemistry , paleontology
Abstract Bacterial infections constitute an increasing problem to human health in response to build‐up of resistance to present antibiotics and sluggish development of new pharmaceuticals. However, a means to address this problem is to pinpoint the drug delivery to—and into—the bacteria. This results in a high local concentration of the drug, circumventing the increasingly high doses otherwise necessary. Combined with other effectors, such as covalent attachment to carriers, rendering the drugs less degradable, and the combination with efflux inhibitors, old drugs can be revived. In this context, glyconanomaterials offer exceptional potential, since these materials can be tailored to accommodate different effectors. In this Concept article, we describe the different advantages of glyconanomaterials, and point to their potential in antibiotic “revitalization”.