Nanostructured antimicrobial peptides with cascade catalytic activity for effective treatment of MRSA-infected diabetic wounds

Diabetic wound is a severe complication of diabetes, which significantly impacts clinical management and patient quality of life due to prolonged healing times and increased susceptibility to infections, particularly by antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Although novel antibiotics have been developed, their clinical use is often limited by suboptimal therapeutic efficacy and significant adverse effects. Herein, we demonstrate the effective elimination of MRSA using nanostructured antimicrobial peptides (nAMPs) derived from Lysine aggregates. The nAMPs are prepared by enriching Lysine on the surface of FeOOH nanoshuttles, which produces FeOOH@Fe-Lysine. The FeOOH@Fe-Lysine nAMPs integrate conventional antibiotic mechanisms with antimicrobial peptide functionalities, targeting bacterial membrane integrity, metabolic pathways, and protein synthesis. Furthermore, the decoration of ultrasmall Au nanoparticles possessing glucose oxidase-like activity enables nAMPs to catalytically produce hydroxyl radicals from glucose, effectively eliminating MRSA and disrupting its biofilms.