Category: Latest News

Therapeutically useful mycobacteriophages BPs and Muddy require trehalose polyphleates

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Proposed roles of Pks, PapA3, FadD23, MmpL10 and PE in the synthesis and transport of TPPs and DAT Mycobacteriophages show promise as therapeutic agents for non-tuberculous mycobacterium infections. However, little is known about phage recognition of Mycobacterium cell surfaces or mechanisms of phage resistance. A new study, led by Graham F. Hatfull from the University of Pittsburgh…

Treating bladder infections with viruses

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
The pathogens that cause urinary tract infections are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a rapid test and a new therapeutic approach using bacteria-​infecting viruses known as phages. In brief ETH Zurich researchers have developed a new rapid test that uses bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria – to quickly…

Centenarians’ Diverse Gut Virome: Potential to Modulate Metabolism and Promote Healthy Lifespan

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
After last week’s meeting Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 where Prof. Edeas talked about the role of phages in microbiota modulation, this new paper (Nature Microbiology) highlights the richness of the virome and bacteriophages in Centenarians. Johansen et al., from Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, presented a characterization of the centenarian gut virome using previously…

Microbiome-friendly phages join the campaign for better antimicrobials

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Phages offer a possible solution to bacterial infections that become resistant to antimicrobial agents. Credit: Stocktrek Images, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo Biotech companies are racing to test bacteriophages — some as found in nature, others armed with CRISPR–Cas — to destroy drug-resistant bacteria selectively while keeping the microbiome intact. Bacteriophages are attracting investor support to do the…

Detection of Salmonella Typhi bacteriophages in surface waters as a scalable approach to environmental surveillance

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Environmental surveillance, using detection of Salmonella Typhi DNA, has emerged as a potentially useful tool to identify typhoid-endemic settings; however, it is relatively costly and requires molecular diagnostic capacity. Shrestha et al. sought to determine whether S. Typhi bacteriophages are abundant in water sources in a typhoid-endemic setting, using low-cost assays. They collected drinking and surface…

Environmental Bacteriophages for Typhoid Surveillance and Evaluating Vaccine Impact

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Typhoid-conjugate vaccines (TCVs) provide an opportunity to reduce the burden of typhoid fever, caused by Salmonella Typhi, in endemic areas. As policymakers design vaccination strategies, accurate and high-resolution data on disease burden is crucial. However, traditional blood culture-based surveillance is resource-extensive, prohibiting its large-scale and sustainable implementation.  Salmonella Typhi is a water-borne pathogen, and here, Hooda et al.…

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

Posted on 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 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 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 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…