Vilela, DianaBlanco-Cabra, NúriaEguskiza, AnderHortelao, Ana C.Torrents Serra, EduardSánchez, Samuel2022-03-152022-03-152021-03-261944-8244https://hdl.handle.net/2445/184118The low efficacy of current conventional treatments for bacterial infections increases mortality rates worldwide. To alleviate this global health problem, we propose drug-free enzyme- based nanomotors for the treatment of bacterial urinary-tract infections. We develop nanomotors consisting of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) that were functionalized with either urease (U-MSNPs), lysozyme (L-MSNPs), or urease and lysozyme (M- MSNPs), and use them against nonpathogenic planktonic Escherichia coli. U-MSNPs exhibited the highest bactericidal activity due to biocatalysis of urea into NaHCO3 and NH3, which also propels U-MSNPs. In addition, U-MSNPs in concentrations above 200 μg/mL were capable of successfully reducing 60% of the biofilm biomass of a uropathogenic E. coli strain. This study thus provides a proof-of-concept, demonstrating that enzyme-based nanomotors are capable of fighting infectious diseases. This approach could potentially be extended to other kinds of diseases by selecting appropriate biomolecules.10 p.application/pdfengcc by (c) Vilela, Diana et al., 2021http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/Infeccions per escheríchia coliBiofilmsNanotecnologiaEscherichia coli infectionsBiofilmsNanotechnologyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article7207122022-03-15info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess