Nanoparticle approaches against bacterial infections

Despite the wide success of antibiotics, the treatment of bacterial infections still faces significant challenges, particularly the emergence of antibiotic resistance. As a result, nanoparticle drug delivery platforms including liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, and various inorganic nanoparticles have been increasingly exploited to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of existing antibiotics. This review focuses on areas where nanoparticle approaches hold significant potential to advance the treatment of bacterial infections. These areas include targeted antibiotic delivery, environmentally responsive antibiotic delivery, combinatorial antibiotic delivery, nanoparticle‐enabled antibacterial vaccination, and nanoparticle‐based bacterial detection. In each area we highlight the innovative antimicrobial nanoparticle platforms and review their progress made against bacterial infections. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2014, 6:532–547. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1282 This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Infectious Disease