General characteristics, results and prospects for the clinical application of bacteriophage therapy

Abstract

Viruses are the most numerous biological creatures in the biosphere of the globe. Their number is huge ~ 1031, and bacteriophages are the most numerous group of environmental viruses. It is not surprising that in such an environment and in the human body and on its skin, a large community of various viruses has formed, representing a viral metagenome (virome). This virome includes not only viruses that penetrate into the cells of the human body and replicate in them using cell material, but also viruses that target only bacteria, namely bacteriophages. The ability of lytic bacteriophages with high specificity to kill certain bacteria was discovered in the 1920s. XX century. In this regard, lytic bacteriophages have been proposed and successfully used for the treatment of acute intestinal infections. However, the advent of antibiotics, the use of which was initially more effective for the treatment of bacterial infections, has led to the abandonment of phage therapy in Western countries. The return of attention of scientists and practical healthcare professionals to the use of bacteriophages as drugs occurred due to the formation and spread of multidrug resistance of pathogenic bacteria to the most commonly used antibacterial drugs. The incidence of various bacterial infections is not decreasing. This review provides information on a number of successful clinical and experimental applications of bacteriophage preparations in various diseases that are caused by bacteria, or bacterial inflammation has arisen as a complication of the underlying disease. It is very important that bacteriophages have a synergistic effect with antibacterial drugs. Bacteriophage therapy is considered as a potentially effective method of treatment.