One Stone with Two Birds: Functional Gold Nanostar for Targeted Combination Therapy of Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection

The development of new antibacterial agents to deal with the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in Gram-positive bacterial pathogens has become an increasing problem. Here, a new strategy is developed for the effective targeting and killing of Gram-positive bacteria based on vancomycin (Van)-modified gold nanostars (AuNSs). Our work has demonstrated that the Van-modified AuNSs (AuNSs@Van) can not only selectively recognize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) but also kill MRSA under near-infrared laser irradiation in vitro. Additionally, AuNSs@Van shows satisfactory biocompatibility and antibacterial activity in treating bacterial infection in vivo. The attractive trait of AuNSs@Van is attributed to the physical effect of its antibacterial activity, with less potential for resistance development. The aforementioned advantages indicate the potential of AuNSs@Van as a photothermal antibacterial agent for effectively combating Gram-positive bacteria in the field of health care.