Controlling bacterial growth using conditional bacterial extracellular vesicle/exosomes

Unmet Need: Antibiotic resistance makes existing front-line antibiotics ineffective and is attributed to more than 1 million deaths annually

The World Health Organization calls antibiotic resistance “one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today”. Microbes resistant to front-line antibiotics are attributed to more than 1 million deaths annually, and the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections demonstrates the urgent need to develop more effective antimicrobial therapies. Many antibiotic resistant infections are secondary infections acquired during clinical care, including cancer treatment and surgery recovery, and are strongly associated with the development of biofilms. Thus, next-generation antibiotic therapies must be able to permeate and destroy biofilms.

The Technology: Novel antibiotic therapies use bacteria-derived exosomes to control infection and inhibit biofilm growth

WSU researchers have identified a bacterially-derived product capable of acting as a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Their studies showed that this product not only effectively inhibits biofilm growth and formation, but also effectively eliminates established biofilms. This has strong implications for wound care, healing, and treating hospital-acquired infections. Additionally, their findings suggest broad efficacy, including gram-positive, gram-negative, and known antibiotic resistant strains. Overall, this technology suggests a next-generation antibiotic particularly capable of attacking biofilms, one of the most challenging elements of antibiotic resistance we face.

Applications:

Promising candidate antimicrobial for drug-resistant infections
Biofilm management allows effective infection control
Topical use for wound care and infection prevention

Advantages:

Broad-spectrum efficacy against gram-positive, gram-negative, and known antibiotic-resistant strains
Prevents biofilm formation
Effective against established biofilms

Patent Information: