Antibacterial Countermeasures via Metal–Organic Framework-Supported Sustained Therapeutic Release

Long-term antimicrobial therapies are necessary to treat infections caused by virulent intracellular pathogens, including biothreat agents. Current treatment plans include injectable therapeutics given multiple times daily over a period for up to 8 weeks. Here, we present a metal–organic framework (MOF), zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), as a robust platform to support the sustained release of ceftazidime, an important antimicrobial agent for many critical bacterial infections. Detailed material characterization confirms the successful encapsulation of ceftazidime within the ZIF-8 matrix, indicating sustained drug release for up to a week. The antibacterial properties of ceftazidime@ZIF-8 particles were confirmed against Escherichia coli, chosen here as a representative of Gram-negative bacteria infection model in a proof-of-concept study. Further, we showed that this material system is compatible with macrophage and lung epithelial cell lines, relevant targets for antibacterial therapy for pulmon...