Biomedicine

Using Viruses to Kill Bacteria

(Page 2 of 2)

  • Tuesday, April 15, 2008
  • By Jennifer Chu

The researchers further tested the bacteriophages' effectiveness, removing the treated sutures and placing them directly into a culture dish full of MRSA bacteria, obtained from patients in three different U.K. hospitals. They found that the virus remained active for up to three weeks, effectively killing off 96 percent of bacteria in culture.

Spencer says that, while bacteriophages will not completely replace antibiotics in fighting infection, these viruses have important advantages. "Antibiotics are broad-spectrum, and for certain bacterial strains, it's easier to use bacteriophages if you know exactly which bacterium is causing the infection," she says. "[With bacteriophages,] you can target one strain, and it wouldn't affect any other bacteria that may be protecting cells."

Synthetic biologist James Collins recently engineered viruses that kill off colonies of bacteria, called biofilms. Collins, a professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, says that Spencer's technique clears many hurdles that have stymied bacteriophage use in the past. "It can be a surface-mounted bacteriophage, so instead of worrying about issues of ingesting a virus, by limiting application to the surface, they get around that concern," he says. "I suspect there might be interest in the Defense Department to use this early to treat infections in soldiers on the battlefield."

The Scottish team also hopes to incorporate microscopic beads of bacteriophages into sprays and creams, which, once dry, can remain active against bacterial infection for prolonged periods of time. The researchers are also exploring other methods of binding bacteriophages onto polymers, including a process known as corona discharge, which is commonly used to imprint ink onto plastic supermarket bags. The method involves a burst of high-voltage electricity, which acts to break up a polymer surface. Spencer says that this technique, patented by the University of Strathclyde, may improve the binding between polymer beads and bacteriophages.

In addition to therapeutic applications, bacteriophages may be useful in detecting bacterial infection, and the Scottish team has plans to investigate bacteriophages' diagnostic potential.

Spencer presented the group's findings at a recent meeting of the Society for General Microbiology, and since then, she has received queries from hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that have expressed interest in an antibiotic alternative. Currently, the team is in negotiations with Gangagen, a Canada-based biotechnology company that works on bacteriophage-based therapies.

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ekwhite

1 Comment

  • 1401 Days Ago
  • 04/15/2008

There are problems with this approach

One of the major problems with this approach is ensuring the virus does not mutate and cause more harm than good, by making a bacterial strain more virulent, rather than killing it. 

Reply

kb1cvh@arrl.net

1 Comment

  • 1401 Days Ago
  • 04/15/2008

Re: There are problems with this approach

Phages are ubiquitous very simple viri. I do not perceive a risk of mutation deletirous to mammals being increased by using phages as antibacterial. Their target for millions of years has been bacteria.

Reply

gdp3

1 Comment

  • 1400 Days Ago
  • 04/16/2008

Re: There are problems with this approach

Ah, but phages are directly involved in the evolution of new pathogenic bacteria by the introduction of new genes ("horizontal transfer") ... examples include cholera toxin and shiga toxin (E. coli O157:H7). For an excellent overview see
Wagner & Waldor's 2002 paper "Bacteriophage control of bacterial virulence" [Infection and Immunity 70(8):3985-3993].
PubMed Central link


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Dubsterz

1 Comment

  • 1401 Days Ago
  • 04/15/2008

Idea for the transportation.

As stated in the article it mentioned that they are having problems mainly because the virus's protein starts falling apart when out of the water. Couldn't you use microcontainers as stated in another article a few days ago to transport the virus and simply fill the microcontainers with h20?

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burnside

10 Comments

  • 1400 Days Ago
  • 04/16/2008

I believe if you look into it you'll find that up until the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, the USSR continued to develop and use phage prophylaxis - that their work extended far beyond WWII and reached a level of considerable sophistication.

The economic disruptions of that time left the subject agencies and researchers without a budget, without salaries and, eventually, without the electrical power necessary to maintain what, by then, amounted to thousands of refined strains.

We're now in the unenviable position of retracing some of the work completed by them many years ago.

See brief article - Wired Oct 2003.

Reply

LaserMaser

7 Comments

  • 1392 Days Ago
  • 04/24/2008

something to cure is being done

Não importa se há problemas com esta nova técnica.
A medicina trabalha com riscos, ensaios, testes,
sacrificios, e se no futuro, pessoas serão salvas,
vale a pena o sacrificio e os riscos no presente.

No matter if there are problems related with this new technique. The medicine works considering risks, attemptings, and sacrifices, and if in the future, persons will be cured, the sacrifices and
risks are totally worthwhile.

Reply

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