Antibacterial directed chemotherapy using AS-48 peptide immobilized on biomimetic magnetic nanoparticles combined with magnetic hyperthermia Jabalera Ruz, Ylenia María Montalbán López, Manuel Vinuesa-Rodriguez, Juan José Iglesias Salto, Guillermo Ramón Maqueda Abreu, Mercedes Jiménez López, Concepción Biomimetic magnetic nanoparticles AS-48 Magnetic hyperthermia This research work is supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2016-76723 project), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI20/01658 project) and Junta de Andalucía through the Programa Operativo FEDER 2014–2020 (A1-FQM-341-UGR18, C-FQM-497-UGR18, A-BIO-376-UGR18) and the Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (projects P20_00208, P20_00339 and P20_00346) and University of Granada (PPJIB2019-01). Ylenia Jabalera wants to acknowledge a FPU2016 grant (ref. FPU16_04580) from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (Spain) and a FEMS Research and Training Grant (ref. FEMS-GO-2020-201) from Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS). The design of new strategies to increase the effectiveness of the antibacterial treatments is a main goal in public health. So, the aim of the study was to achieve a local antibacterial directed therapy as novel alternative allowing both, the delivery of the drug at the target, while minimizing undesirable side effects, thus anticipating an enhanced effectiveness. Hence, we have developed an innovative nanoformulation composed by biomimetic magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with the antimicrobial peptide AS-48 and its potential against Grampositive and Gram-negative bacteria, either by itself or combined with magnetic hyperthermia has been investigated. Besides, the physical properties, binding efficiency, stability and mechanism of action of this nanoassembly are analyzed. Remarkably, the nanoassembly has a strong bactericidal effect on Gram-positive bacteria, but surprisingly also on E. coli and, finally, when combined with magnetic hyperthermia, on P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae. The results obtained represent a breakthrough since it allows a local treatment of infections, reducing and concentrating the dose of antimicrobial compounds, avoiding secondary effects, including the resistance generation and particularly because the combination with magnetic hyperthermia helps sensitizing resistant bacteria to the bactericidal effect of AS-48. Thus, this new formulation should be considered a promising tool in the antibacterial fight. 2026-01-16T10:48:39Z 2026-01-16T10:48:39Z 2021 journal article Jabalera Ruz, Y. M.; Montalbán López, M.; Vinuesa-Rodriguez, J. J. [et al.] (2021). Antibacterial directed chemotherapy using AS-48 peptide immobilized on biomimetic magnetic nanoparticles combined with magnetic hyperthermia. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules Volume 189, 31 October 2021, Pages 206-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.08.110 0141-8130 1879-0003 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109796 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.08.110 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ embargoed access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Elsevier