Cyanine-based nanoparticles for near-infrared triggered photothermal therapy against S. aureus

Abstract

Noninvasive antibacterial therapies, such as photothermal therapy (PTT), have shown great promise to treat pathogens due to low toxicity and low drug resistance. Photothermal transducing agents (PTAs) play a pivotal role to make PTT a spatiotemporally controllable and effective technique. In this study, we designed and prepared a novel nanostructured material by using a cyanine dye (Flav7) as a PTA for the treatment of S. aureus infection. 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine polyethylene glycol galactose (DSPE-PEGG) was used to fabricate the nanoparticles (Flav7@DSPE-PEGG NPs) by encapsulating Flav7, and the Flav7@DSPE-PEGG NPs exhibited excellent water-dispersibility, photothermal stability, and biocompatibility. The results show that the constructed Flav7@DSPE-PEGG NPs retained good targeting capability and achieved a remarkable 99.9% eradication rate against S. aureus under 808 nm laser irradiation, and efficiently promoted infected wound healing by PTT.