Antimicrobial peptide-grafted PLGA-PEG nanoparticles to fight bacterial wound infections.

Wound infection treatment with antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is still not a reality, due to the loss of activity . Unlike the conventional strategy of encapsulating AMPs on nanoparticles (NPs) leaving activity dependent on the release profile, this work explores AMP grafting to poly(D,L-lactide--glycolide)-polyethylene glycol NPs (PLGA-PEG NPs), whereby AMP exposition, infection targeting and immediate action are promoted. NPs are functionalized with MSI-78(4-20), an equipotent and more selective derivative of MSI-78, grafted through a thiol-maleimide (Mal) Michael addition.