posted on 2021-10-15, 23:43authored byYuan Liu, Yue Huang, Dongyeop Kim, Zhi Ren, Min Jun Oh, David P. Cormode, Anderson T. Hara, Domenick T. Zero, Hyun Koo
Severe tooth decay
has been associated with iron deficiency anemia
that disproportionally burdens susceptible populations. Current modalities
are insufficient in severe cases where pathogenic dental biofilms
rapidly accumulate, requiring new antibiofilm approaches. Here, we
show that ferumoxytol, a Food and Drug Administration-approved nanoparticle
formulation for treating iron deficiency, exerts an alternative therapeutic
activity via the catalytic activation of hydrogen peroxide, which
targets bacterial pathogens in biofilms and suppresses tooth enamel
decay in an intraoral human disease model. Data reveal the potent
antimicrobial specificity of ferumoxytol iron oxide nanoparticles
(FerIONP) against biofilms harboring Streptococcus mutans via preferential binding that promotes bacterial killing through in situ free-radical generation. Further analysis indicates
that the targeting mechanism involves interactions of FerIONP with
pathogen-specific glucan-binding proteins, which have a minimal effect
on commensal streptococci. In addition, we demonstrate that FerIONP
can detect pathogenic biofilms on natural teeth via a facile colorimetric
reaction. Our findings provide clinical evidence and the theranostic
potential of catalytic nanoparticles as a targeted anti-infective
nanomedicine.