Development of WoundShield for Pseudomonas aeruginosa-Caused Wounds Infections

Modern combat-related injuries are often associated with infectious complications. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the leading causes of these combat-associated skin and soft tissue infections (particularly for burn wounds), which frequently results in delayed wound healing, amputation, or systemic infections leading to life-threatening sepsis. The management of wound infections involved with P. aeruginosa is challenging because of 1) the formation of biofilm to embed and protect bacterial cells; 2) the development of multidrug resistance (MDR) by a variety of mechanisms. Sharp debridement in combination with systemic antibiotic treatments remains the standard of care for wound biofilm infections. Nevertheless, this approach still has limitations: 1) Debridement may inadvertently push invisible matrix fragments into the deeper wound area, thus promoting chronic wound infection or biofilm recurrence; 2) Systemic antibiotic therapies may be inefficient, especially for wounds with residual biofilm matrix or infected by MDR strains, which require much higher local antibiotic concentrations to achieve full inhibition. Therefore, Zymeron seeks to develop a topical exosome formulation WoundShield with the ability to degrade biofilm matrix components (preventing biofilm formation or growth) and inhibit clinical MDR isolates as an adjunct therapy for wound infections caused by P. aeruginosa.