Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a highly virulent pathogen capable of inflicting severe infections. This pathogen has a long history of developing resistance to antibacterial drugs, and many phenotypes are capable of immobilizing the host immune response by releasing peptide and protein toxins with the capacity to lyse human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). The peptide phenol-soluble modulin a3 (PSMa3) has been identified as an important toxin released by the most virulent strains of MRSA. A library of colloidal polymer nonaparticles (NPs) was synthesized by precipitation polymerization to act as synthetic inhibitors of this toxin. The monomers incorporated into the polymers were chosen to compliment the functional groups of PSMa3 and generate a high affinity. We determined that aromatic monomers provided an enhanced affinity for PSMa3 and were effective at neutralizing the toxin in vitro. Our results indicate that aromatic monomers may be useful in engineering affinity between synthetic NPs and biomacromolecules.

Engineering nanoparticle antitoxins utilizing aromatic interactions

248th National Meeting (2014)

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