Note: Due to pending intellectual property disclosures, certain details have been withheld. In an effort to enhance the body's natural immune response to infection, we aim to develop multivalent artificial opsonins that will promote the recognition, phagocytosis, and destruction of pathogenic bacteria by phagocytes.  The structure of our artificial opsonins consists of multiple copies of both bacterial and phagocyte targeting moieties attached to a flexible polymer support.  The phagocyte targeting moiety recognizes a cell surface marker that is universally expressed on phagocytic cells while the bacterial targeting moiety recognizes multivalent structures naturally present in the cell wall of a broad range of bacteria.  Notably, our approach is effective against virulent antibiotic resistant and polysaccharide encapsulated strains which are notoriously difficult to treat. Additionally, the opsonins themselves are designed to be non-bactericidal, thereby minimizing or even eliminating the chance that bacteria would develop resistance mechanisms.

Targeting of bacteria to phagocytes by multivalent artificial opsonins

239th National Meeting (2010)

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