Liposomal Encapsulation Increases the Efficacy of Azithromycin against <i>Chlamydia trachomatis</i>
Anita Bogdanov,
László Janovák,
Jasmina Vraneš,
Tomislav Meštrović,
Sunčanica Ljubin-Sternak,
Zsuzsanna Cseh,
Valéria Endrész,
Katalin Burián,
Željka Vanić,
Dezső P. Virok
Affiliations
Anita Bogdanov
Department of Medical Microbiology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Health Center and Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged, Semmelweis Str. 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary
László Janovák
Interdisciplinary Excellence Centre, Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Szeged, Rerrich Béla Sqr. 1, 6720 Szeged, Hungary
Jasmina Vraneš
Molecular Microbiology Department, Dr. Andrija Štampar Teaching Institute of Public Health, Mirogojska cesta 16, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Tomislav Meštrović
Clinical Microbiology and Parasitology Unit, Dr. Zora Profozić Polyclinic, Bosutska 19, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Sunčanica Ljubin-Sternak
Molecular Microbiology Department, Dr. Andrija Štampar Teaching Institute of Public Health, Mirogojska cesta 16, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Zsuzsanna Cseh
Department of Medical Microbiology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Health Center and Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged, Semmelweis Str. 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary
Valéria Endrész
Department of Medical Microbiology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Health Center and Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged, Semmelweis Str. 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary
Katalin Burián
Department of Medical Microbiology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Health Center and Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged, Semmelweis Str. 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary
Željka Vanić
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, A. Kovačića 1, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Dezső P. Virok
Department of Medical Microbiology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Health Center and Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged, Semmelweis Str. 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary
Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) is an obligate intracellular bacterium linked to ocular and urogenital infections with potentially serious sequelae, including blindness and infertility. First-line antibiotics, such as azithromycin (AZT) and doxycycline, are effective, but treatment failures have also been reported. Encapsulation of antibiotics in liposomes is considered an effective approach for improving their local effects, bioavailability, biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity. To test whether liposomes could enhance the antichlamydial action of AZT, we encapsulated AZT in different surface-charged elastic liposomes (neutral, cationic and anionic elastic liposomes) and assessed their antibacterial potential against the C. trachomatis serovar D laboratory strain as well as the clinical isolate C. trachomatis serovar F. A direct quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method was used to measure chlamydial genome content 48 h post infection and to determine the recoverable chlamydial growth. All the liposomes efficiently delivered AZT to HeLa 229 cells infected with the laboratory Chlamydia strain, exhibiting the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and the minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBC) of AZT even 4–8-fold lower than those achieved with the free AZT. The tested AZT-liposomes were also effective against the clinical Chlamydia strain by decreasing MIC values by 2-fold relative to the free AZT. Interestingly, the neutral AZT-liposomes had no effect on the MBC against the clinical strain, while cationic and anionic AZT-liposomes decreased the MBC 2-fold, hence proving the potential of the surface-charged elastic liposomes to improve the effectiveness of AZT against C. trachomatis.
