Vilela García, DianaBlanco Cabra, NuriaEguskiza, AnderHortelao, Ana C.Torrents, EduardSánchez, Samuel2023-06-172023-06-172021-03-261944-824410.1021/acsami.1c00986https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/6745CRUE-CSIC (Acuerdos Transformativos 2021)The low efficacy of current conventional treatments for bacterial infections increases mortality rates worldwide. To alleviate this global health problem, we propose drug-free enzymebased nanomotors for the treatment of bacterial urinary-tract infections. We develop nanomotors consisting of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) that were functionalized with either urease (U-MSNPs), lysozyme (L-MSNPs), or urease and lysozyme (MMSNPs), and use them against nonpathogenic planktonic Escherichia coli. U-MSNPs exhibited the highest bactericidal activity due to biocatalysis of urea into NaHCO3 and NH3, which also propels U-MSNPs. In addition, U-MSNPs in concentrations above 200 μg/mL were capable of successfully reducing 60% of the biofilm biomass of a uropathogenic E. coli strain. This study thus provides a proof-of-concept, demonstrating that enzyme-based nanomotors are capable of fighting infectious diseases. This approach could potentially be extended to other kinds of diseases by selecting appropriate biomolecules.engAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/journal articlehttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.1c00986open access543Enzymatic nanomotorsBiofilmsE.ColiInfectionsNanomachinesSelf-propulsionQuímica analítica (Química)2301 Química Analítica