Antibody-directed targeting of lysostaphin adsorbed onto polylactide nanoparticles increases its antimicrobial activity against S. aureus in vitro

The objective of this paper was to study the effect of antibody-directed targeting of S. aureus by comparing the activities of lysostaphin conjugated to biodegradable polylactide nanoparticles (NPs) in the presence and in the absence of co-immobilized anti-S. aureus antibody. Lysostaphin–antibody–NP conjugates were synthesized through physical adsorption at different enzyme:antibody:NP ratios. The synthesized enzyme–NP conjugates were characterized by means of dynamic light scattering and zeta potential analysis, and the total protein binding yield on the NPs was characterized using Alexa Fluor 350 and 594 dyes for the S. aureus antibody and lysostaphin respectively. We observed enhanced antimicrobial activity for both enzyme-coated and enzyme–antibody-coated NPs for lysostaphin coatings corresponding to ∼ 40% of the initial monolayer and higher compared to the free enzyme case (p < 0.05). At the highest antibody coating concentration, bacterial lysis rates for antibody-coated samples were significantly higher than for lysostaphin-coated samples lacking the antibody (p < 0.05). Such enzyme–NP conjugates thus have the potential for becoming novel therapeutic agents for treating antibiotic-resistant S. aureus infections.