T7 Phage as an Emerging Nanobiomaterial with Genetically Tunable Target Specificity

Abstract

Bacteriophages, also known as phages, are specific antagonists against bacteria. T7 phage has drawn massive attention in precision medicine owing to its distinctive advantages, such as short replication cycle, ease in displaying peptides and proteins, high stability and cloning efficiency, facile manipulation, and convenient storage. By introducing foreign gene into phage DNA, T7 phage can present foreign peptides or proteins site-specifically on its capsid, enabling it to become a nanoparticle that can be genetically engineered to screen and display a peptide or protein capable of recognizing a specific target with high affinity. This review critically introduces the biomedical use of T7 phage, ranging from the detection of serological biomarkers and bacterial pathogens, recognition of cells or tissues with high affinity, design of gene vectors or vaccines, to targeted therapy of different challenging diseases (e.g., bacterial infection, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, inflammatory disease, and foot-mouth disease). It also discusses perspectives and challenges in exploring T7 phage, including the understanding of its interactions with human body, assembly into scaffolds for tissue regeneration, integration with genome editing, and theranostic use in clinics. As a genetically modifiable biological nanoparticle, T7 phage holds promise as biomedical imaging probes, therapeutic agents, drug and gene carriers, and detection tools.

Phage Therapy for Mosquito Larval Control: a Proof-of-Principle Study

“…Engineered T7 phages have been utilized as biotechnological tools because of their ability to express foreign peptides on their capsids ( 53 ). T7-like phages have been extensively studied with respect to their biology and also with regard to applied uses, making them ideal candidates for phage therapy ( 54 ).…”

The applications of animal models in phage therapy: An update

“… 161 The T7 phage, as a genetically modifiable biological nanoparticle, holds promise for biomedical imaging probes, therapeutics, drug and gene carriers, and detection tools. 162 In general, a phage mixture with more than one phage type to attack bacteria may be preferable in terms of efficacy. However, a phage library may be preferable for phage-host specificity based on direct matching with a specific target pathogen.…”

Bionanoparticles in cancer imaging, diagnosis, and treatment

“…In this regard, an ever-increasing number of studies have turned to utilize the bacteriophage T7 display system to design functionally engineered phages. 104,110 Zhou and coauthors 78 constructed the gold nanoparticle (GNP) binding probe dually modified with an oligonucleotide (complementary to one-half segment of the target miRNAs) and GNP-binding fluorescent T7 phage (via respectively displaying fluorescent proteins, GFP and RFP, on the C terminal of g10b). The phage also displays GNP binding peptide on gp17 of the T7 phage (Figure 5).…”