Bacteriophages against enteropathogens: rediscovery and refinement of novel antimicrobial therapeutics

Abstract

Purpose of review Alarming rates of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and gastrointestinal dysbiosis associated with traditional antimicrobial therapy have led to renewed interests in developing bacteriophages as novel therapeutics. In this review, we highlight some of the recent advances in bacteriophage therapeutic development targeting important enteropathogens of the gastrointestinal tract. Recent findings Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, either to utilize the bacterial machinery to produce new progeny or stably integrate into the bacterial chromosome to ensure maintenance of the viral genome. With recent advances in synthetic biology and the discovery of CRISPR-Cas systems used by bacteria to protect against bacteriophages, novel molecular applications are taking us beyond the discovery of bacteriophages and toward innovative applications, including the targeting of bacterial virulence factors, the use of temperate bacteriophages, and the production of bacteriophage proteins as antimicrobial agents. These technologies offer promise to target enteropathogens without disrupting the healthy microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract. Moreover, the use of nanoparticle technology and other modifications are helping researchers circumvent the harsh gastrointestinal conditions that could limit the efficacy of bacteriophages against enteric pathogens. Summary This era of discovery and development offers significant potential to modify bacteriophages and overcome the global impact of enteropathogens.

Microbiome‐based therapies for periodontitis and peri‐implantitis

“…Phages are viral particles that infect bacteria and have lytic activity (Glonti & Pirnay, 2022; Leon & Faherty, 2021), and thus, phages can be used to treat diseases related to bacterial infection. The efficacy of phage therapy is now widely studied in many infectious diseases, such as gastrointestinal infections (Yen et al., 2017), lung infections (Waters et al., 2017), and surgical site infections (LaVergne et al., 2018) Phages infect susceptible cells mainly by three steps, which is called a lytic infection cycle.…”

“…These products were termed as “postbiotics” by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) in 2019 (Salminen et al., 2021). Predatory bacteria and phages are another type of microbiome‐based interventions that target bacteria involved in the pathogenesis of oral diseases so as to restore the homeostatic function of oral microbiota (Hoare et al., 2017; Leon & Faherty, 2021). Inspired by fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), the concept of OMT was proposed and highly anticipated by dental researchers in recent years (Beikler et al., 2021; Sorbara & Pamer, 2022).…”

Isolation and characterization of bacteriophages from wastewater as potential biocontrol agents for Escherichia coli.

“…Bacteriophages, which are also called simply phages, are viruses that invade and kill bacteria and archaea (Sulakvelidze et al, 2001;Leon and Faherty, 2021). Phages were formally discovered in 1915 by William Twort, a British physician and biomedical scientist.…”