Aptamer modified CeCo MOF hybrid catalysts with multiple enzymatic activities for enhanced catalytic therapy of infected wounds.

Designing and inventing synergistic emerging antimicrobial strategies is critical for mitigating potential resistance to conventional antibiotics. This task is challenging because these antimicrobial agents should need to eliminate bacteria, slow oxidative stress in wounds, and be safe and nontoxic. Here, we report a highly safe antimicrobial nanocatalyst for bacterial scavenging through aptamer-synergistic multienzyme activity. The nanocatalysts (termed as ASCM) were constructed by loading copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs), natural superoxide dismutase (SOD), and functionalized aptamers on bimetallic metal-organic frameworks (CeCo MOFs). The hybrid nanocatalysts exhibit remarkable SOD-like activity as well as its catalase (CAT)-, peroxidase (POD)- and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)-like activities to release highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and oxygen (O) to kill bacteria and relieve wound hypoxia. Systematic antimicrobial testing revealed that ASCM exhibited a high inactivation efficiency (>99 %) against both methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA). Animal experiments have shown that ASCM can effectively treat MRSA-infected wounds and has a good biosafety profile while inhibiting the inflammatory response. Overall, this work describes the design of an efficient, strategically synergistic antibacterial nanocatalysts that can achieve safe bacterial scavenging and alleviate oxidative stress.