Diagnosis and Therapeutic Strategies Based on Nucleic Acid Aptamers Selected against Pseudomonas aeruginosa: The Challenge of Cystic Fibrosis

• Published in: ChemMedChem Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. e202300544 - n/a
• Main Authors: Gutiérrez‐Santana, Juan Carlos, Coria‐Jiménez, Victor Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 15.01.2024
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Antimicrobial activity; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial peptides; Antimicrobial resistance; Aptamers; Bacteria; Clinical isolates; Conjugation; COVID-19; Cystic fibrosis; Detection limits; Diagnosis; Fluorophores; Global health; Multidrug Resistance; Nanostructure; Nanostructures; Nucleic acids; Pandemics; Pathogens; Peptides; Phenotypes; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Public health; Multidrug Resistance; Cystic fibrosis; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Nanostructures; Aptamers
• ISSN: 1860-7179; 1860-7187
• DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202300544

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a rapidly spreading global health problem, and approximately five million deaths associated with AMR pathogens were identified prior to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Pseudomonas aeruginosa has developed increasing AMR, and in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) colonized by this bacterium, rare phenotypes have emerged that complicate the diagnosis and treatment of the hosts, in addition to multiple associated “epidemic strains” with high morbidities and mortalities. The conjugation of aptamers with fluorochromes or nanostructures has allowed the design of new identification strategies for Pseudomonas aeruginosa with detection limits of up to 1 cell ⋅ mL−1, and the synergy of aptamers with antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides and nanostructures has exhibited promising therapeutic qualities. Some selected aptamers against this bacterium have shown intrinsic antimicrobial activity. However, these aptamers have been poorly evaluated in clinical isolates and have shown decreased interactions for CF isolates, demonstrating, in these cases, uncommon phenotypes resulting from the selective qualities of this disease as well as the great adaptive capacity of the pathogen. Therefore, finding an aptamer or set of aptamers that have the ability to recognize strange phenotypes of this bacillus is crucial in the battle against AMR. The chronic, dynamic, and evolving relationship between the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa favours the emergence of rare phenotypes, complicating both diagnosis and antimicrobial drug therapy. Currently, there are aptamers that have been shown to recognise this pathogen with prominent limits of detection. However, these aptamers have shown deficiencies in recognising clinical isolates from people with CF.