Platelet-wrapped nanoparticles find success against MRSA

MIT Technology Review : Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a hard-to-treat and sometimes deadly bacterial infection. To fight the infection, one area of research has centered on delivering drugs via nanoparticles, but the body’s immune system often targets the nanoparticles, which limits their effectiveness. So Liangfang Zhang of the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues have camouflaged the nanoparticles by wrapping them in platelet membranes. Platelets already circulate in blood and form clots to stop bleeding, so they are ignored by the immune system and collect in the areas damaged by MRSA and other infections. When Zhang and his group tested the platelet-wrapped nanoparticles in mice, they found that the doses were as successful in treating MRSA as doses of traditional antibiotics that were six times as large.