As the increasing number of the individuals suffering from AIDs, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, pathogenic fungi, which may rapidly grow and invade the host tissues in these immune-compromised patients, is becoming great threat to human health. In this study, we constructed a novel fungal pathogen-responsive assembly of cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) nanoparticles (NPs) for specific targeting and inhibiting growth and biofilm formation of the representative fungal pathogen, Candida albicans (C. albicans). This assembly was formed by coating the initial Cu₂O NPs with both phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and bovine serum albumin (BSA), followed by hydrophobic/electrostatic interaction-driven formation of the Cu₂O-PE-BSA microaggregates. The formed microaggregates could be induced for disassembly by the fungal pathogen C. albicans, leading to close binding of the NPs to the cell wall of the pathogen. Both confocal microscopy and viability assays showed that the assembly strongly inhibited growth and biofilm formation of the pathogen, but had extreme low toxicity to mammalian cells. In vivo mouse wound model further revealed that the assembly had high capacity of healing the fungus-infected wounds and reduced the fungal burden of the wound tissues. This study sheds a novel light on facile development of pathogen-responsive nano-assemblies for efficient and safe antifungal therapy.

随着患有AID，化学疗法和放射疗法的个体数量的增加，可能迅速生长并侵袭这些免疫功能低下患者的宿主组织的病原性真菌正对人类健康构成巨大威胁。在这项研究中，我们构建了一种新型的氧化亚铜（Cu ₂ O）纳米颗粒（NPs）真菌病原体响应组件，用于特异性靶向并抑制代表性真菌病原体白色念珠菌（C. albicans）的生长和生物膜形成。通过用磷脂酰乙醇胺（PE）和牛血清白蛋白（BSA）涂覆初始Cu ₂ O NP，然后疏水/静电相互作用驱动形成Cu _2来形成该组装体O-PE-BSA微骨料。真菌病原体白色念珠菌可诱导所形成的微聚集体分解，从而导致NP与病原体的细胞壁紧密结合。共聚焦显微镜和活力测定均显示该组件强烈抑制病原体的生长和生物膜形成，但对哺乳动物细胞的毒性极低。体内小鼠伤口模型进一步揭示了该组件具有治愈被真菌感染的伤口的高能力并减轻了伤口组织的真菌负担。这项研究为有效和安全的抗真菌治疗的病原体响应性纳米组件的简便开发提供了新的思路。