Bacteriophages as Potential Tools for Use in Antimicrobial Therapy and Vaccine Development

Abstract

The constantly growing number of people suffering from bacterial, viral, or fungal infections, parasitic diseases, and cancers prompts the search for innovative methods of disease prevention and treatment, especially based on vaccines and targeted therapy. An additional problem is the global threat to humanity resulting from the increasing resistance of bacteria to commonly used antibiotics. Conventional vaccines based on bacteria or viruses are common and are generally effective in preventing and controlling various infectious diseases in humans. However, there are problems with the stability of these vaccines, their transport, targeted delivery, safe use, and side effects. In this context, experimental phage therapy based on viruses replicating in bacterial cells currently offers a chance for a breakthrough in the treatment of bacterial infections. Phages are not infectious and pathogenic to eukaryotic cells and do not cause diseases in human body. Furthermore, bacterial viruses are sufficient immuno-stimulators with potential adjuvant abilities, easy to transport, and store. They can also be produced on a large scale with cost reduction. In recent years, they have also provided an ideal platform for the design and production of phage-based vaccines to induce protective host immune responses. The most promising in this group are phage-displayed vaccines, allowing for the display of immunogenic peptides or proteins on the phage surfaces, or phage DNA vaccines responsible for expression of target genes (encoding protective antigens) incorporated into the phage genome. Phage vaccines inducing the production of specific antibodies may in the future protect us against infectious diseases and constitute an effective immune tool to fight cancer. Moreover, personalized phage therapy can represent the greatest medical achievement that saves lives. This review demonstrates the latest advances and developments in the use of phage vaccines to prevent human infectious diseases; phage-based therapy, including clinical trials; and personalized treatment adapted to the patient’s needs and the type of bacterial infection. It highlights the advantages and disadvantages of experimental phage therapy and, at the same time, indicates its great potential in the treatment of various diseases, especially those resistant to commonly used antibiotics. All the analyses performed look at the rich history and development of phage therapy over the past 100 years.

Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from the Oral Cavity: Phage Susceptibility in Relation to Antibiotic Resistance

“…Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses capable of infecting and replicating inside bacterial cells, which ultimately leads to the destruction of the latter. Since their discovery, phages has raised hopes as a therapeutic option, but research on phage therapies has slowed down due to the growth of the global antibiotic market [ 6 ]. However, the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance stimulated research on phage therapies in many countries; the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases listed phage therapy as one of the seven strategies to overcome antibiotic resistance [ 7 ].…”

Potential of Bacteriophage Therapy: A Double Edge Sword to Combat COVID-19 and Associated Pulmonary Bacterial Infections

“…The phage display technique can be utilized in two ways: to decrease the pulmonary bacterial infection and/or to efficiently produce antibodies against pulmonary viral (COVID-19) infections [119] . It is a method of producing phage-displayed vaccines in which a protein gene of interest is encoded into the phage coat protein, leading the phage to exhibit the protein on the exterior while carrying it on the inside.…”

Should Bacteriophages Be Classified as Parasites or Predators?

“…Bacteriophages (or shortly, phages) – viruses infecting bacterial cells – have been known for over 100 years, and currently they are recognized as the most abundant biological entities on Earth ( Salmond and Fineran 2015 ; Batinovic et al 2019 ). Their biological significance in the natural environment is irrefutable ( Correa et al 2021 ), and examples of their use in medicine ( Zalewska-Piątek and Piątek 2021 ) and biotechnology ( Jaroszewicz et al 2021 ) are very numerous.…”