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Antibiotic-resistant bacteria infections pose a threat to public health. Considering the difficulty in developing new antibiotics, it is an urgent need to develop alternative therapies against bacterial pathogens. Bacteriophages (phages) are evaluated as potential substitutes or adjuncts of antibiotics because they are abundant in nature and could...
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... on their lifestyle, phages can be mainly divided into two classes: temperate phages and lytic phages (also known as virulent phages). A complete phage life cycle of the common tailed phage mainly includes the following (Figure 1): first, phages recognize specific receptors and adsorb to the surface of a host bacterium by tail fibers or spikes; then, the phages inject their own genetic material into the host bacteria; next, lytic phages make use of the host bacteria to proliferate and synthesize various components needed by themselves, complete the assembly, and form a large number of progeny phages, finally dissolving a portion of the host cell wall through the specific lysins. The progeny phages are released from the host bacteria and spread, while the host bacteria lyse and die. ...
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... on their lifestyle, phages can be mainly divided into two classes: temperate phages and lytic phages (also known as virulent phages). A complete phage life cycle of the common tailed phage mainly includes the following (Figure 1): first, phages recognize specific receptors and adsorb to the surface of a host bacterium by tail fibers or spikes; then, the phages inject their own genetic material into the host bacteria; next, lytic phages make use of the host bacteria to proliferate and synthesize various components needed by themselves, complete the assembly, and form a large number of progeny phages, finally dissolving a portion of the host cell wall through the specific lysins. The progeny phages are released from the host bacteria and spread, while the host bacteria lyse and die. ...
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At its current rate, the rise of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections is predicted to paralyze our industries and healthcare facilities while becoming the leading global cause of loss of human life. With limited new antibiotics on the horizon, we need to invest in alternative solutions. Bacteriophages (phages)- viruses targeting bacteria- offer...
Mucins are important glycoproteins that form a protective layer throughout the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. There is scientific evidence of increase in phage-resistance in the presence of mucin for some bacterial pathogens. Manipulation in mucin composition may ultimately influence the effectiveness of phage therapy. In this work, two c...
Control strategies to minimize pathogenic bacteria in food animal production are one of the key components in ensuring safer food for consumers. The most significant challenges confronting the food industry, particularly in the major poultry and swine sectors, are antibiotic resistance and resistance to cleaning and disinfection in zoonotic bacteri...
Antibiotic failure is one of the most worrisome threats to global health. Among the new therapeutic efforts that are being explored, the use of bacteriophages (viruses that kill bacteria), also known as ‘phages’, is being extensively studied as a strategy to target bacterial pathogens. However, one of the main drawbacks of phage therapy is the plet...
Pathogens found in food are believed to be the leading cause of foodborne illnesses; and they are considered a serious problem with global ramifications. During the last few decades, a lot of attention has been paid to determining the microorganisms that cause foodborne illnesses and developing new methods to identify them. Foodborne pathogen ident...
Citations
... Drugs alone will not ultimately be able to treat TB due to frequent mutations in the pathogen that results in drug resistance. Alternative treatment options include probiotics, nanobiotics, antibody-antibiotic conjugates, vaccines, stem cell-based small inhibitory peptides, bacteriocins, small interfering RNA (siRNAs), silver nanoparticles, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas editing machinery, and bacteriophage (phage) therapy (Laurenzi et al., 2007;Zumla et al., 2015;Wei et al., 2020). In the current scenario, antimicrobial resistance to standard TB treatments is rampant. ...
Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect members of genus Mycobacterium. Because of the rise in antibiotic resistance in mycobacterial diseases such as tuberculosis, mycobacteriophages have received renewed attention as alternative therapeutic agents. Mycobacteriophages are highly diverse, and, on the basis of their genome sequences, they are grouped into 30 clusters and 10 singletons. In this article, we have described the isolation and characterization of a novel mycobacteriophage Kashi-VT1 (KVT1) infecting Mycobacterium >smegmatis mc² 155 (M. smegmatis) and Mycobacterium fortuitum isolated from Varanasi, India. KVT1 is a cluster K1 temperate phage that belongs to Siphoviridae family as visualized in transmission electron microscopy. The phage genome is 61,010 base pairs with 66.5% Guanine/Cytosine (GC) content, encoding 101 putative open reading frames. The KVT1 genome encodes an immunity repressor, a tyrosine integrase, and an excise protein, which are the characteristics of temperate phages. It also contains genes encoding holin, lysin A, and lysin B involved in host cell lysis. The one-step growth curve demonstrated that KVT1 has a latency time of 90 min and an average burst size of 101 phage particles per infected cell. It can withstand a temperature of up to 45°C and has a maximum viability between pH 8 and 9. Some mycobacteriophages from cluster K are known to infect the pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis); hence, KVT1 holds potential for the phage therapy against tuberculosis, and it can also be engineered to convert into an exclusively lytic phage.
... Alternative therapies, such as phage therapy, are increasingly being used to treat multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections [83,84]. While phage therapy offers several advantages, certain aspects still require further clarification. ...
There is growing concern among healthcare providers worldwide regarding the prevalence of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii). Some of the worst hospital-acquired infections, often in intensive care units (ICUs), are caused by this bacterial pathogen. In recent years, the rise in multidrug-resistant A. baumannii has been linked to the overuse of antimicro-bial drugs and the lack of adequate infection control measures. Infections caused by this bacterial pathogen are the result of prolonged hospitalization and ICU stays, and they are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. This review outlines the epidemiology, risk factors, and antimi-crobial resistance associated with A. baumannii in various countries, with a special focus on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In response to the growing concern regarding this drug-resistant bacteria , fundamental information about its pathology has been incorporated into the development of vaccines. Although these vaccines have been successful in animal models, their effectiveness in humans remains unproven. The review will discuss the development of A. baumannii vaccines, potential related obstacles, and efforts to find an effective strategy against this pathogen.
... Currently, all of the natural phages selected for therapeutic purposes belong to the order Caudovirales [26], which have exhibited desirable efficacy in controlling infectious bacteria such as Pseudomonas, E. coli, and Salmonella enteritidis [109][110][111][112]. So far, different strategies have been proposed for enhancing the efficacy of phage therapy such as the use of phage cocktails, combination of phage and antibiotics, phage-derived enzymes, and phage engineering [113]. Phage cocktail is introduced as an alternative to singlephage therapy, which can overcome the limitations of single-phage therapy and delay the development of bacterial resistance to phages. ...
... Phage engineering can improve the therapeutic effects of phage therapy by expanding lysis spectrum of phages and inhibiting the emergence of resistant bacteria. The use of engineered genes encoding receptor-binding proteins (RBPs) in spikes and the use of CRISPR-Cas systems are the most common methods applied for phage engineering [113,119]. The genetic engineering of RBPs is a powerful tool to produce broad-spectrum phages [119], whereas CRISPR-Cas systems integrate the short fragments of the phage genome into the CRISPR array (namely crRNAs), which leads to the production of complementary RNA sequences. ...
... The genetic engineering of RBPs is a powerful tool to produce broad-spectrum phages [119], whereas CRISPR-Cas systems integrate the short fragments of the phage genome into the CRISPR array (namely crRNAs), which leads to the production of complementary RNA sequences. The crRNAs guide the Cas protein complex for targeting or depredating specific foreign genetic elements [113,120]. To sum up, these strategies can improve phage therapy outcomes and has a great prospect for preventing or treating drug-resistant bacterial infections. ...
Clostridioides difficile, which causes life-threatening diarrheal disease, is considered an urgent threat to healthcare setting worldwide. The current standards of care solely rely on conventional antibiotic treatment, however, there is a risk of promoting recurrent C. difficile infection (rCDI) because of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains. Globally, the alarming spread of antibiotic-resistant strains of C. difficile has resulted in a quest for alternative therapeutics. The use of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), which involves direct infusion of fecal suspension from a healthy donor into a diseased recipient, has been approved as a highly efficient therapeutic option for patients with rCDI. Bacteriophages or phages are a group of viruses that can infect and destroy bacterial hosts, and are recognized as the dominant viral component of the human gut microbiome. Accumulating data has demonstrated that phages play a vital role in microbial balance of the human gut microbiome. Recently, phage therapy and fecal virome transplantation (FVT) have been introduced as promising alternatives for the treatment of C. difficile -related infections, in particular drug-resistant CDI. Herein, we review the latest updates on C. difficile- specific phages, and phage-mediated treatments, and highlight the current and future prospects of phage therapy in the management of CDI.
... Phages are the most widely encountered organisms that are natural bacterial killers, and have been used in practical application since the early 20th century; the golden age of phage therapy occurred in 1920-1940s, and phages received little attention in the era of antibiotics [6]. After the post-antibiotic era, phage therapy has received renewed attention as a potential and powerful therapeutic antibacterial strategy [7][8][9]. One of the main advantages of bacteriophages over antibiotic treatments is that phages are highly specific to their targets, effectively killing the target pathogenic bacteria without affecting the commensal flora. ...
Acinetobacter baumannii is an important opportunistic pathogen common in clinical infections. Phage therapy become a hot research field worldwide again after the post-antibiotic era. This review summarizes the important progress of phage treatments for A. baumannii in the last five years, and focus on the new interesting advances including the combination of phage and other substances (like photosensitizer), and the phage encapsulation (by microparticle, hydrogel) in delivery. We also discuss the remaining challenges and promising directions for phage-based therapy of A. baumannii infection in the future, and the innovative combination of materials in this area may be one promising direction.
... Antibiotic resistance is a threatening issue that has emerged in recent decades, leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare expenditures (16,22).Antibiotics have been highly effective in treating bacterial infections since their discovery;however, due to the extensive use of antibiotics, the health care system is facing a new challenge defined as antibiotic resistance (23). Antibiotics are one of the most common treatments for bacterial infections, as a result, one of the most common concerns about broad-spectrum antibiotics is bacterial resistance and subsequent R plasmids transmission between bacterial strains (3).R-plasmids contain genes that enable bacteria to become resistant to certain medications, and these genes can be passed along by conjugation to other strains. ...
Abstrat
One of the critical issues that humans worldwide are facing is bacterial infections. Antibiotics were developed as bactericidal agents to avoid the negative consequences of bacterial infections, and they were initially highly efficient against bacteria. However, by misusing these chemical antibiotics in this era, we face a phenomenon referred to as antibiotic resistance. In other words, bacteria began to acquire resistance to common antibiotics, and resistance means going back to a time before antibiotics. As it is a significant threat to human health and causes increased mortality, there is a rising demand for novel alternative therapies. An alternate method is to use bacteriophages (phages) as a therapeutic agent against bacterial infections in medicine and agriculture. Phages are viruses capable of infecting pathogenic bacteria, which can cause serious diseases. They have no effect on the human microbiota, and the majority of them only infect certain bacteria. Some research has been done on using phages as a treatment before, and more experiments today. For instance, eye infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be treated by eye drops containing appropriate phages. In this regard, significant progress has been made in the field of phage therapy. This review will discuss the current state of phage therapy, clinical breakthroughs, its superiorities and drawbacks, and the future perspectives of phage applications.
... [2,48] Phage therapy has been a much under-explored alternative to antibiotic use, but a renaissance in phage-based therapies is now highly anticipated. [78] A primary challenge is the highly specific infectivity range of phages that can limit their ability to infect across different bacterial strains. [33] Synthetic biology can enable the design, modification and synthesis of phages with improved antimicrobial performance and efficacy to help realise novel strategies to study and treat bacterial infectious diseases, including those caused by MDR pathogens. ...
Synthetic biology [synbio] applications have the potential to assist in addressing significant global health and environmental challenges. Australian research institutes are investing in formative research to develop synbio technologies capable of meeting these challenges. Alongside the laboratory research, investigating the broader social, institutional and ethical considerations that synbio presents has been a priority. We conducted targeted qualitative research to uncover the barriers and opportunities for a range of multisectoral stakeholders identified as potential end‐users of the science under development. The research provides insights into the research implementation environment for three synthetic biology applications: (1) gene editing cane toads (Rhinella marina) to reduce their environmental impact; (2) engineering bacteriophages to combat antimicrobial resistance in humans and; (3) engineering microbes to improve biomining efficiency in the mining industry. In‐depth interviews (N = 23) with government, research and civil society representatives revealed key challenges in the impact pathway for each application. The strongest themes uncovered during interviews related to perceived negative public attitudes towards genetic technologies, a lack of investment in critical research infrastructure, unclear regulatory pathways and the presence of a strong social and environmental imperative underpinning technology development. These findings reveal specific entry points for further engagement with the most immediate end‐users of synbio. Separate from research on public attitudes to synbio, the cases highlight the various hurdles to achieving research impact, according to experts who will likely use, approve or invest in these applications in the future. The themes uncovered inform avenues for strengthening engagement and research coordination in Australia and elsewhere. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... 268 Phage therapy is receiving renewed interest as an alternative therapeutic modality because of the threat of multidrug-resistant bacteria. 269 This is highlighted by the recent opening of the first phage therapy center in the U.S. 270 Phages have also been used against foodborne infections 271,272 and in crop science. 273−276 However, several factors hinder the therapeutic use of bacteriophages as antibacterial agents, including their narrow host range and immunogenicity and the release of toxins upon phage-induced bacterial lysis. ...
Chronic wounds can be classified as diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, or venous leg ulcers. Chronic wound management has become a threat to clinicians and constitutes a major healthcare burden. The healing process of chronic wounds requires many factors to work in concert to achieve optimal healing. Various treatment options, ranging from hypoxia to infection, have evolved considerably to address the challenges associated with chronic wound healing. The conventional and accelerating treatments for chronic wounds still represent an unmet medical need due to the complex pathophysiology of the chronic wound microenvironment. In clinical settings, traditional chronic wound care practices rely on nonspecific topical treatment, which can reduce pain and alleviate disease progression with varying levels of success but fail to completely cure the wounds. Conventional wound dressings, such as hydrocolloids, gauze, foams, and films, have also shown limited success for the treatment of chronic wounds and only act as a physical barrier and absorb wound exudates. Emerging advances in treatment approaches, including novel therapies (stem cells, microRNAs, and nanocarrier-based delivery systems) and multifunctional biological dressings, have been reported for chronic wound repair. This review summarizes the challenges offered by chronic wounds and discusses recent advancements in chronic wound treatment.
Acinetobacter baumannii ( A. baumannii ) is a Gram‐negative, nonmotile, and aerobic bacillus emerged as a superbug, due to increasing the possibility of infection and accelerating rates of antimicrobial agents. It is recognized as a nosocomial pathogen due to its ability to form biofilms. These biofilms serve as a defensive barrier, increase antibiotic resistance, and make treatment more difficult. As a result, the current situation necessitates the rapid emergence of novel therapeutic approaches to ensure successful treatment outcomes. This review explores the intricate relationship between biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance in A. baumannii , emphasizing the role of key virulence factors and quorum sensing (QS) mechanisms that will lead to infections and facilitate insight into developing innovative method to control A. baumannii infections. Furthermore, the review article looks into promising approaches for preventing biofilm formation on medically important surfaces and potential therapeutic methods for eliminating preformed biofilms, which can address biofilm‐associated A. baumannii infections. Modern advances in emerging therapeutic options such as antimicrobial peptide (AMPs), nanoparticles (NPs), bacteriophage therapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), and other biofilm inhibitors can assist readers understand the current landscape and future prospects for effectively treating A. baumannii biofilm infections.
