Research on the effect of phages in treating bacterial infections

Nowadays, multidrug-resistant bacterial infections are on the rise, which means that treatment with antibiotics may not be effective. Bacteriophage therapy is an alternative treatment for bacterial infections.

Bacteriophages or phages are bacterial viruses that enter bacteria, then replicate and kill them. This principle can be used to treat bacterial infections when antibiotics do not have the desired effect.

Importantly, phages are also able to remain effective in clinical situations where antibiotics have limited effect, such as infections of implanted devices, infections associated with bacterial biofilms (the outer protective structure formed by bacteria), chronic bone infections, and others.

Image from the dissertation by Kārlis Rācenis

The dissertation study evaluated the efficacy of bacteriophages in the treatment of different patient groups, such as those with urinary tract infections and peritoneal dialysis patients.

The study successfully treated patients with life-threatening multidrug-resistant infections and investigated the efficacy of patient treatment models under laboratory conditions.

The study addressed key issues of the interaction between phages and antibiotics, phage training to enhance antimicrobial effect, the role of phage resistance development and how it can be overcome. The data showed that bacteriophages have a high potential for treating of multidrug-resistant and biofilm-associated infections both under laboratory conditions and in real life. Bacteriophage therapy can be complemented with antibiotics, but the interaction and sequence of use of the specific agents should be considered as this has a significant impact on the efficacy of the therapy.

Although bacteriophage resistance is also common and frequent in phage therapy, it can be overcome by using phage cocktails, an adaptation procedure, or by combining phage therapy with antibiotics, even if the bacterium is moderately sensitive to the antibiotic. Further studies, especially clinical trials, are needed to evaluate phage therapy more precisely.

Kārlis Rācenis will defend his doctoral thesis “Antimicrobial Activity of Bacteriophages in Multidrug-Resistant and Biofilm Associated Infections” on 18 December 2023.Read more

RSU dissertation database