Abstract: Staphylococcus aureus  (S. aureus ) is an important zoonotic bacteria and hazardous for the health of human beings and livestock globally. The characteristics like biofilm forming, facultative intracellular survival, and growing resistance of S. aureus  pose a great challenge to its use in therapy. Nanoparticles are considered as a promising way to overcome the infections’ therapeutic problems caused by S. aureus . In this paper, the present progress and challenges of nanoparticles in the treatment of S. aureus  infection are focused on stepwise. First, the survival and infection mechanism of S. aureus  are analyzed. Second, the treatment challenges posed by S. aureus  are provided, which is followed by the third step including the advantages of nanoparticles in improving the penetration and accumulation ability of their payload antibiotics into cell, inhibiting S. aureus  biofilm formation, and enhancing the antibacterial activity against resistant isolates. Finally, the challenges and future perspective of nanoparticles for S. aureus  infection therapy are introduced. This review will help the readers to realize that the nanosystems can effectively fight against the S. aureus  infection by inhibiting biofilm formation, enhancing intracellular delivery, and improving activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus  and small colony variant phenotypes as well as aim to help researchers looking for more efficient nanosystems to combat the S. aureus  infections.
Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus , infection mechanism, resistance, antibiotics, nanoparticles