AP-PA02 Phage cocktail safely lowers P. aeruginosa load in Cystic Fibrosis trial

Posted on March 9, 2023March 21, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

AP-PA02, an experimental phage therapy for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa respiratory infections, was well tolerated and reduced the bacterial load in the lungs, according to top-line results from a Phase 1b/2a trial. High doses of AP-PA02 were associated with durable reductions in bacterial load in the SWARM-Pa study. Pharmacokinetics data, which refers to the movement of…

Compassionate Use of Phages Against Drug-Resistant Mycobacterial Disease

Posted on February 27, 2023March 21, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

“Phage” by Professor Graham Beards is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Nontuberculous Mycobacterium infections, particularly Mycobacterium abscessus, are increasingly common among patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic bronchiectatic lung diseases. Treatment is challenging due to intrinsic antibiotic resistance. Bacteriophage therapy represents a potentially novel approach. Relatively few active lytic phages are available and there is great variation in phage susceptibilities among M.…

Tail-Engineered Phage P2 for Antimicrobials Delivery

Posted on February 27, 2023February 27, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

Bacteriophages can be reprogrammed to deliver antimicrobials for therapeutic and biocontrol purposes and are a promising alternative treatment to antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Fa-arun et al. developed a bacteriophage P4 cosmid system for the delivery of a Cas9 antimicrobial into clinically relevant human gut pathogens Shigella flexneri and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Their P4 cosmid design…

Potential for Bacteriophages as Anticancer Agents

Posted on February 10, 2023February 10, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

Press release written by Dr. Swapnil Ganesh Sanmukh. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with prostate cancer (PCa) being the leading cause of death among men globally. As components of the microbiome, including bacteriophages, are considered relevant concerning the diagnostics and therapeutics of malignant diseases, new interest has emerged to identify their…

Managing phage therapy to help save lives

Posted on January 27, 2023February 7, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

Phages are viruses that can infect and kill bacteria without affecting human or animal cells. Phage therapy was used extensively in the early 20th century prior to the use of antibiotics. (Stock illustration) Scientists with the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences were among those providing the biochemical tools needed to help save a man’s…

Phage trial to treat CF patients with multi-drug resistant bacterial infections

Posted on January 27, 2023February 7, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

A false-color micrograph depicts phages attacking a bacterium. Thomas Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging, UC San Diego Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs and other organs in the body. Nearly 40,000 children and adults in the United States live with CF, an often difficult existence…

NIH-supported clinical trial of phage therapy for cystic fibrosis begins

Posted on January 27, 2023February 1, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

This digitally-colorized scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image shows a number of rod-shaped Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria Enrollment has begun in an early-stage clinical trial evaluating bacteriophage therapy in adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) who carry Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in their lungs. The trial is evaluating whether the bacteriophage, or “phage,” therapy is safe and able to reduce…

A novel virulent Litunavirus phage against multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Posted on January 11, 2023January 11, 2023 by Targeting Phage Therapy

Transmission electron micrographs of phage VL1 negatively stained with 2% (w/v) uranyl acetate. The scale bar represents 200 nm. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a notable nosocomial pathogen that can cause severe infections in humans and animals. The emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa has motivated the development of phages to treat the infections. Lerdsittikul et al.…

Anti-Biofilm Effect of Bacteriophages & Antibiotics against Uropathogenic E. coli

Posted on December 13, 2022December 13, 2022 by Targeting Phage Therapy

Pyobacteriophag effect before (1 and 1′) and after (2 and 2′) adaptation to strain 01206UR Escherichia coli is a common cause of biofilm-associated urinary tract infections. Bacteria inside the biofilm are more resistant to antibiotics. In a study by Mukane et al, six E. coli strains isolated from patients with urinary tract infections were screened for biofilm-forming…

Bacteriophage Cocktails in the Post-COVID Rehabilitation

Posted on December 13, 2022December 13, 2022 by Targeting Phage Therapy

Increasing evidence suggests that gut dysbiosis is associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and may persist long after disease resolution. The excessive use of antimicrobials in patients with COVID-19 can lead to additional destruction of the microbiota, as well as to the growth and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The problem of bacterial resistance to…

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