Medicine from Wastewater: “Phages Are Globetrotters”
Berlin – Bacteriophages are currently receiving increased scientific attention as they are being considered as an alternative to antibiotics. In the age of antibiotic resistance, 33,000 people die annually across Europe as a result of bacterial infections because suitable therapies are lacking. Dr. Christine Rohde from the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures has been working with phages for 30 years and is one of the few experts in this field. She tells APOTHEKE ADHOC what makes these viruses so special and why—unlike antibiotics—they are beneficial for the gut microbiome.
The proportion of multidrug-resistant bacteria is increasing. Feared hospital pathogens include, for example, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and also Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is the most common bacterial cause of pneumonia worldwide, as well as urinary tract infections. In the worst case, infection with this pathogen can lead to sepsis and be fatal for the patient if conventional antibiotics no longer help. However, the resistances also have health-economic consequences. Nosocomial infections cause longer hospital stays as well as high additional costs. Therefore, scientists are searching for new approaches to avoid the negative consequences of antibiotic therapy.
An alternative could be bacteriophages, which are specialized in bacteria as host cells. They use bacterial cells for their own reproduction; as a result, the bacteria are killed. This is where the research of the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, and thus that of Rohde’s research group, comes in. “We have a collection of approximately 800 phages and we isolate new ones every month,” says the scientist. The DSMZ is a partner in the Phage4Cure research consortium. Its long-term goal is to make bacteriophages therapeutically usable against the typical hospital pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and to bring them to pharmaceutical approval. An inhalation dosage form is planned.
The project, supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is a joint initiative of four institutions that see potential in the mechanism of action of phages. These include the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), the Department of Infectious Diseases and Respiratory Medicine at Charité Berlin, and the Charité Research Organisation (CRO). The project is expected to be completed in 2020 and is being closely monitored by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).
Source: www.apotheke-adhoc.de
