Current developments and prospects of the antibiotic delivery systems

Antibiotics have remained the cornerstone for the treatment of bacterial infections ever since their discovery in the twentieth century. The uproar over antibiotic resistance among bacteria arising from genome plasticity and biofilm development has rendered current antibiotic therapies ineffective, urging the development of innovative therapeutic approaches. The development of antibiotic resistance among bacteria has further heightened the clinical failure of antibiotic therapy, which is often linked to its low bioavailability, side effects, and poor penetration and accumulation at the site of infection. In this review, we highlight the potential use of siderophores, antibodies, cell-penetrating peptides, antimicrobial peptides, bacteriophages, and nanoparticles to smuggle antibiotics across impermeable biological membranes to achieve therapeutically relevant concentrations of antibiotics and combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We will discuss the general mechanisms via which each delivery system functions and how it can be tailored to deliver antibiotics against the paradigm of mechanisms underlying antibiotic resistance.