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Reinventing phage therapy: are the parts greater than the sum?

Nature Biotechnology volume 24, pages 1508–1511 (2006)Cite this article

Although whole phage continue to generate interest as an alternative to antibiotics, focus is shifting to the use of purified phage components as antibacterial agents.

When phages were first discovered nearly a century ago1, it was immediately apparent that their potent bactericidal capacity should be harnessed to treat human infections. The industrialization of antibiotics in the 1940s, however, changed the focus of anti-infective research and development in the West away from phage treatments and toward natural products and their semisynthetic derivatives with antibacterial effects. Now, over 60 years later, interest again is turning to phage as adjunct therapies in the control of bacterial pathogens that have emerged as resistant to some, and in certain cases all, clinically approved antibiotics. This increased incidence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens is particularly worrisome in the hospital setting, where it is resulting in a significant upturn in morbidity and mortality. While several research groups continue to develop whole phage as alternative treatments, the isolation and optimization of purified phage components as antibacterials opens up new opportunities in the fight against intractable infections.

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Figure 1: Steps to bacterial lysis in phage and lysin therapy.

Katie Ris

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Rockefeller University, New York, 10021, New York, USA

    Vincent A Fischetti, Daniel Nelson & Raymond Schuch

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  1. Vincent A Fischetti
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  2. Daniel Nelson
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Fischetti, V., Nelson, D. & Schuch, R. Reinventing phage therapy: are the parts greater than the sum?. Nat Biotechnol 24, 1508–1511 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1206-1508

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1206-1508

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