Novel Nanotherapeutics as Next-generation Anti-infective Agents: Current Trends and Future Prospectives

With the ever-increasing population and improvement in the healthcare system in the 21st century, the incidence of chronic microbial infections and associated health disorders has also increased at a striking pace. The ability of pathogenic microorganisms to form biofilm matrix aggravates the situation due to antibiotic resistance phenomenon resulting in resistance against conventional antibiotic therapy which has become a public health concern. The canonical Quorum Sensing (QS) signaling system hierarchically regulates the expression of an array of virulence phenotypes and controls the development of biofilm dynamics. It is imperative to develop an alternative, yet effective and non-conventional therapeutic approach, popularly known as "anti-infective therapy" which seems to be interesting. In this regard, targeting microbial QS associated virulence and biofilm development proves to be a quite astonishing approach in counteracting the paucity of traditional antibiotics. A number of synthetic and natural compounds are exploited for their efficacy in combating QS associated microbial infections but the bioavailability and biocompatibility limit their widespread applications. In this context, the nanotechnological intervention offers a new paradigm for widespread biomedical applications starting from targeted drug delivery to diagnostics for the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, particularly to fight against microbial infections and antibiotics resistance in biofilms. A wide range of nanomaterials ranging from metallic nanoparticles to polymeric nanoparticles and recent advances in the development of carbon-based nanomaterials such as Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), Graphene Oxide (GO) also immensely exhibited intrinsic antiinfective properties when targeted towards microbial infections and associated MDR phenomenon. In addition, the use of nano-based platforms as carriers emphatically increases the efficacy of targeted and sitespecific delivery of potential drug candidates for preventing microbial infections.