The dawn of phage therapy

Abstract

Bacteriophages or phages, being the most abundant entities on earth, represent a potential solution to a diverse range of problems. Phages are successful antibacterial agents whose use in therapeutics was hindered by the discovery of antibiotics. Eventually, because of the development and spread of antibiotic resistance among most bacterial species, interest in phage as therapeutic entities has returned, because their noninfectious nature to humans should make them safe for human nanomedicine.This review highlights the most recent advances and progress in phage therapy and bacterial hosts against which phage research is currently being conducted with respect to food, human, and marine pathogens. Bacterial immunity against phages and tactics of phage revenge to defeat bacterial defense systems are also summarized.We have also discussed approved phage-based products (whole phage-based products and phage proteins) and shed light on their influence on the eukaryotic host with respect to host safety and induction of immune response against phage preparations.Moreover, creation of phages with desirable qualities and their uses in cancer treatment, vaccine production, and other therapies are also reviewed to bring together evidence from the scientific literature about the potentials and possible utility of phage and phage encoded proteins in the field of therapeutics and industrial biotechnology.

Use of an Extremely Biodiverse Probiotic and a Supplement Based on Microbial Chondroitin Sulfate is Associated with a Significant Decrease of Serum Free Kappa Light Chains as well as a Trend Toward Normalization of Kappa/Lambda Ratio and of Plasma Cell Bone Marrow Infiltration in a Case of Multiple Myeloma

“…It is worth noticing that the milk and colostrum fermented drink assumed by the patient here described represents a novel form of probiotic because of its extreme biodiversity; ingredients, microbial composition and nutritional characteristics of this drink are described in Table 1. A microbiome assay performed with a chip covered in DNA sequences that are specific to target organisms and is able to detect a total of approximately 12,000 species (Thissen et al, 2019), revealed the presence of hundreds of different microorganisms, thus showing an extremely high degree of biodiversity that included plasmids and phages with the latter being heralded as the tools for the future of immunotherapy (Rehman et al, 2019). It is known that phages are endowed with anticancer activity and it was demonstrated that they inhibit the growth of experimental melanoma and lung cancer and also inhibit the formation of lung metastases (Dabrowska et al, 2004).…”

Phage composition of a fermented milk and colostrum product assessed by microbiome array; putative role of open reading frames in reference to cell signaling and neurological development

“…Phages have been used in therapy of human diseases for more than hundred years, that is soon after their discovery in 1915, when it was enthusiastically thought that they could cure almost any disease (21,89). Although phage therapy is only now being rediscovered in Western countries (66), it is worth noticing that pharmacies in the country of Georgia and in the Russian Federation have been selling commercial phage cocktails for decades as they belong to the armamentarium of common practitioners (90). In the pre-antibiotic era, phages were conceived as means to kill pathogenic bacteria according to the principle of "My enemy's enemy is my friend" (91), but now it is accepted that they may be helpful in a number of diseases ranging from cancer (92) to autism (93) as they are able to bypass anatomical and physiological barriers and have been found in human body's compartments that were previously considered purely sterile (94).…”

“…After 48 hrs, the product undergoes the process of freeze drying. The nutritional characteristics of the product are described in Antonucci et al (2019) (19). The array used for this analysis is a chip covered in short DNA sequences that are specific to certain target organisms (a total of approximately 12,000 species are included).…”

Bacteriophages to control Shiga toxin-producingE. coli– safety and regulatory challenges

“…In the context of food safety, lytic phages are interesting tools [48]. Phages are considered a natural agent, in contrast to other food chemical preservatives that are associated with severe health problems, such as cancer, asthma, and others [56]. Recently, there has been an increase in the popularity of green and nonchemical technology concerning the control of food contamination [48,57].…”