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Rapid eradication of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and biofilms by MXene and near-infrared light through photothermal ablation

MXene介导的近红外光热效应用于快速清除多种 耐药菌以及菌膜

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Abstract

With the development and rising of antimicrobial resistance, rapid and effective killings of bacteria are urgently needed, especially for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and bacterial biofilms that are usually hard to be treated with conventional antibiotics. Here, a rapid and broad-spectrum antibacterial strategy is demonstrated through photothermal ablation with MXene and light. Ti3C2 MXenes, when combined with 808 nm light, show significant antibacterial effects in just 20 min. The antibacterial strategy is effective to 15 bacterial species tested, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE). In addition, the rapid antibacterial strategy works for MRSA biofilms, by damaging the structures as well as killing bacteria in biofilms. Furthermore, the investigation of the antibacterial mechanisms shows that Ti3C2 with light kills bacteria mainly physically through inserting/contact and photothermal effect. This work broadens the potential applications of MXene and provides a way to eradicate bacteria and biofilms physically, without the likelihood of resistance development.

摘要

随着细菌耐药性的不断出现和加重, 针对耐药菌感染和菌膜 这类难以用传统抗生素治疗的临床医疗问题, 需要发展新型高效 快速的杀菌方法. 本文采用新型二维材料MXene与近红外激光相 结合, 实现了在20 min内对细菌以及菌膜的快速高效杀除. 为了测 试该方案的广谱抗菌性, 我们对包括耐药性的耐甲氧西林金黄色 葡萄球菌(MRSA)和耐万古霉素肠球菌(VRE)等多种耐药菌进行了 快速灭菌实验. 我们发现二碳化三钛类的MXene与808 nm激光的 组合, 对所测试的15种细菌均展现出显著的抗菌特性. 并且该杀菌 方案可通过破坏菌膜结构杀灭深层细菌, 快速清除由MRSA所形成 的菌膜. 此外, 对抗菌机理的研究显示, MXene和近红外激光主要是 通过物理性的MXene插入及接触和光热效应杀死细菌, 从而可以 显著地降低细菌耐药性的产生. 本工作提出了一种物理性清除多 种耐药菌和菌膜的方案, 并扩展了新型二维材料MXene在生物医 学领域和临床上的潜在应用范围.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81901790 and 21803006), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (7204274), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Interdisciplinary Medicine Seed Fund of Peking University (BMU2017MX015).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this paper.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Photonics, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Fan Wu  (吴凡), Wenzhao Wang  (王文钊), Jiayu Guo  (郭佳钰), Bangzheng Pu  (普邦政), Xinyuan Shi  (史芯源), Jiebo Li  (李介博) & Weili Hong  (洪维礼)

  2. Department of Microbiology and Infectious Disease Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, 100191, China

    Huiling Zheng  (郑惠玲), Qiong Wu  (吴琼) & Xiangmei Chen  (陈香梅)

  3. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of the Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Qi Zhang  (张琦)

Authors
  1. Fan Wu  (吴凡)
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  11. Weili Hong  (洪维礼)
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Contributions

Wu F, Zheng H, Wang W and Wu Q performed the experiments; Zhang Q performed ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy experiment; Guo J, Pu B and Shi X contributed to the establishment of the mathematical model; Wu F, Hong W, Li J and Chen X wrote the paper with support from Zheng H. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiebo Li  (李介博), Xiangmei Chen  (陈香梅) or Weili Hong  (洪维礼).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Fan Wu is currently a graduate student in the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering at Beihang University. He received his bachelor’s degree from Tangshan College in 2017. In 2018, he joined Prof. Weili Hong’s lab, focusing on the application of coherent Raman microscope for antibiotic susceptibility testing and medical photonics.

Huiling Zheng is currently a graduate student in the Department of Microbiology, Peking University Health Science Center. She received her bachelor’s degree from XiangYa School of Medicine, Central South University, in 2018. And in the same year, she joined the research group of associate prof. Xiangmei Chen, focusing on studying the pathogenesis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Weili Hong is an associate professor at Beijing Advanced Innovation Center of Biomedical Engineering at Beihang University, Beijing, China. He obtained his BSc degree from the University of Science and Technology of China, and PhD degree from the University of Utah. After a postdoctoral training at Purdue University, he joined Beihang University as an associate professor. His research focuses on the development and biomedical applications of optics and labelfree imaging.

Xiangmei Chen received her PhD degree of medical genetics from Harbin Medical University in 2006. She completed postdoctoral training at the Department of Microbiology, Peking University Health Science Center, in 2008. She became assistant professor ofmedical microbiology at Peking University Health Science Center in 2008 and was promoted to associate professor in 2012. Her current research interest focuses on the pathogenesis of infection-associated cancers, especially HBV-related HCC and helicobacter pylori-induced gastric cancers.

Jiebo Li gained his BSc and MSc from Peking University, and PhD degree from Rice University, Texas, USA. Now, he is an associate professor at Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, Beihang University. His research focuses on developing various spectroscopy techniques to understand the interfacial problems in biomedical engineering related areas.

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Wu, F., Zheng, H., Wang, W. et al. Rapid eradication of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and biofilms by MXene and near-infrared light through photothermal ablation. Sci. China Mater. 64, 748–758 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1451-7

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