How Charge, Size and Protein Corona Modulate the Specific Activity of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC) against <i>Helicobacter pylori</i>

• Main Authors: Rute Chitas (Author), Cláudia Nunes (Author), Salette Reis (Author), Paula Parreira (Author), Maria Cristina L. Martins (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2022-12-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

The major risk factor associated with the development of gastric cancer is chronic infection with <i>Helicobacter pylori</i>. The available treatments, based on a cocktail of antibiotics, fail in up to 40% of patients and disrupt their gut microbiota. The potential of blank nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) for <i>H. pylori</i> eradication was previously demonstrated by us. However, the effect of NLC charge, size and protein corona on <i>H. pylori</i>-specific bactericidal activity herein studied was unknown at that time. All developed NLC formulations proved bactericidal against <i>H. pylori</i>. Although cationic NLC had 10-fold higher bactericidal activity than anionic NLC, they lacked specificity, since <i>Lactobacillus acidophilus</i> was also affected. Anionic NLC achieved complete clearance in both <i>H. pylori</i> morphologies (rod- and coccoid-shape) by inducing alterations in bacteria membranes and the cytoplasm, as visualized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The presence of an NLC protein corona, composed of 93% albumin, was confirmed by mass spectrometry. This protein corona delayed the bactericidal activity of anionic NLC against <i>H. pylori</i> and hindered NLC activity against <i>Escherichia coli</i>. Overall, these results sustain the use of NLC as a promising antibiotic-free strategy targeting <i>H. pylori</i>.

Item Description

10.3390/pharmaceutics14122745
1999-4923