Phototherapy and Mechanism Exploration of Biofilm and Multidrug-Resistant Helicobacter pylori by Bacteria-Targeted NIR Photosensitizer

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection has been the leading cause of gastric cancer development. In recent years, the resistance of H. pylori against antibiotic treatment has been a great challenge for most countries worldwide. Since biofilm formation is one of the reasons for the antibiotic resistance of H. pylori, and phototherapy has emerged as a promisingly alternative antibacterial treatment, herein the bacteria-targeted near-infrared (NIR) photosensitizer (T780T-Gu) by combining positively-charged guanidinium (Gu) with an efficient phototherapeutic agent T780T is developed. The proposed molecule T780T-Gu exhibits synergistic photothermal therapy/photodynamic therapy effect against both H. pylori biofilms and multidrug-resistant (MDR) clinical strains. More importantly, the phototherapy mechanism of T780T-Gu acquired by the RNA-seq analysis indicates that structural deficiency as well as a decrease in metabolism and defense activity are the possible reasons for the efficient H. pylori phototherapy.

Automated summary

A new near-infrared photosensitizer has been developed for effective phototherapy against H. pylori infections and resistant strains, showing synergistic photothermal therapy/photodynamic therapy effects. RNA-seq analysis revealed the potential mechanism of efficient H. pylori phototherapy.