ε‐poly‐L‐lysine‐modified polydopamine nanoparticles for targeted photothermal therapy of drug‐resistant bacterial keratitis

Bacterial keratitis can lead to intraocular infection and even blindness without prompt and potent treatments. Currently, clinical abuse of antibiotics encouraged the evolution of resistant bacteria. Conventional antibiotic eye drops based keratitis treatment has been heavily restricted due to the lack of bactericidal efficiency and easy induction of bacterial resistance. Hence, developing an effective treatment strategy for bacterial keratitis is of great significance. In this work, we investigated ε‐poly‐l‐lysine (EPL)‐modified polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticles (EPL@PDA NPs)‐mediated antibacterial photothermal therapy (aPTT), to cope with methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)‐induced keratitis. The surface modification of cationic peptide EPL enables EPL@PDA NPs to specifically target negatively charged MRSA and induces local hyperthermia to kill the bacteria under low ambient temperature. Under near‐infrared (NIR) irradiation, the sterilization efficiency of EPL@PDA NPs suspension for MRSA in vitro was up to 99.96%. The EPL@PDA‐mediated aPTT presented potent antibacterial efficacy in treating MRSA‐induced keratitis with little corneal epithelial cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility. In conclusion, the bacterial‐targeting aPTT platform in this work provides a prospective method for the management of MRSA‐induced refractory bacterial keratitis.