Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), caused by the tick-borne Dabie bandavirus (DBV), remains a major public health threat due to its high fatality rate and the absence of effective antiviral therapies. Through a target-focused antivira...
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), caused by the tick-borne Dabie bandavirus (DBV), remains a major public health threat due to its high fatality rate and the absence of effective antiviral therapies. Through a target-focused antiviral screening approach, five potential anti-SFTS candi-dates niclosamide (NIC), cepharanthine, nifedipine, zanamivir, and ivacaftor were identified, with NIC demonstrating the strongest activity (IC₅₀ = 0.37 μM, CC₅₀ > 50 μM; SI > 135.14). However, the poor oral bioavailability of NIC has historically limited its therapeutic translation. To overcome this bar-rier, we developed NCNP-NIC, an orally deliverable nanoformulation in which NIC is non-covalently assembled with tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA). The resulting spherical nanoparticles (NIC: TUDCA = 1:4) exhib-ited an average diameter of 181 ± 5.02 nm and a polydispersity index of 0.176 ± 0.09. This formulation enhanced NIC’s oral bioavailability to 52.7%, representing a 13-fold improvement over pure NIC (4.01%). NCNP-NIC showed no detectable toxicity owing to the absence of new chemical entities. Remarkably, oral administration of NCNP-NIC at both 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg completely cured SFTS in the IFNAR⁻/⁻ mouse model, establishing it as a promising therapeutic option and a versatile platform for improving de-livery of poorly soluble antiviral drugs.
In parallel, Streptococcus pneumoniae continues to pose a significant global health burden as a leading cause of pneumonia and invasive infections, with rising antibiotic resistance reducing the effectiveness of conventional thera-pies. To improve the therapeutic performance of azithromycin (AZI), we de-veloped AZI-nano, a nanoparticle formulation prepared through a simple na-noprecipitation method using AZI, palmitic acid, and TUDCA. The resulting nanoparticles averaged 181 nm in size and significantly enhanced oral bioa-vailability in Sprague–Dawley rats compared to pure AZI, as confirmed by HPLC-MS/MS analysis. In vivo evaluation in C57BL/6J mice demonstrated that oral administration of AZI-nano (10 or 20 mg/kg) over three weeks im-proved physical recovery and functional performance in Rotarod, Pole, and Wire Hang tests relative to conventional AZI treatment. No toxicity, adverse behavioral changes, or alterations in food intake or body weight were ob-served. Fecal microbiota profiling was also performed to assess potential changes induced by AZI-nano administration. Collectively, AZI-nano repre-sents a promising oral therapeutic strategy against S. pneumoniae by over-coming the limitations of poor bioavailability and enhancing clinical efficacy in the context of increasing antibiotic resistance.