Bacteriophage and their lysins for elimination of infectious bacteria

Abstract

When phages were originally identified, the possibility of using them as antibacterial agents against pathogens was immediately recognized and put into practise based on the knowledge available at the time. However, with the advent of antibiotics a decline in the use of phage as therapeutics followed. Phages did, however, become more useful in the study of fundamental aspects of molecular biology and in the diagnostic laboratory for the identification of pathogenic bacteria. More recently, the original application of phage as therapeutics to treat human and animal infections has been rekindled, particularly in an era where antibiotic resistance has become so problematic/commonplace. Phage lysins have also been studied and utilized in their own right as potential therapeutics for the treatment of bacterial infections. Indeed the past decade has seen a considerable amount of research worldwide focused on the engineering of phages as antibacterial agents in a wide range of applications. Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration and/or the US Department of Agriculture have recently approved commercial phage preparations to prevent bacterial contamination of livestock, food crops, meat and other foods. Such developments have prompted this review into the status of phage research as it pertains to the control of infectious bacteria.

Staphylococcal Infection, Antibiotic Resistance and Therapeutics

“…The advent of high throughput sequencing has led to the analysis of phage genomes and better understanding of phage evolution, phage-host interaction, bacterial pathogenicity, phage ecology and origin of phages (O'Flaherty et al, 2009). With the background knowledge of phage genomics, it will be possible to approach phage therapeutics cautiously and effectively.…”

Antibacterial activity of bacteriophages isolated from poultry against Shiga-toxic strains of Esherichia coli isolated from calves

“…In fact, their replication depends exclusively on the infection of a specific bacterial host and on the utilization of the host's intracellular machinery to translate their own genetic code (1,3,5,28). Most phages are capable of a complete lysis of the bacterial cell, comprising adsorption, penetration, synthesis of the constituent components of phage lysis of bacterial cells, and release of a mature bacteriophage (22,31). As bacteriophages are present in every kind of environment (water, soil, plants and animals), their acquisition is very easy (27,30).…”

Mycoviruses: future therapeutic agents of invasive fungal infections in humans?

“…For instance, it has been shown that a bacteriophage with lytic activity against vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) successfully cured mice from VRE bacteraemia [59]. A review of various experimental infections treated with bacteriophages can be found in the work of O'Flaherty et al [60]. In addition, the therapeutic bacteriophage of VRE bacteraemia was well tolerated in a phase I clinical trial [57].…”

“…In tandem with the resurgent interest in bacteriophages as therapeutic agents and the advent of high throughput sequencing, the number of bacteriophage genomes sequenced to completion has drastically increased to >500 [60]. Although host species specificity is the rule for most bacteriophages investigated, many bacteriophages have developed efficient methods to change their host range via genetic mechanisms [64].…”