In this article, we compare the efficacy of various pharmacological agents (ranitidine and omeprazole) in supporting phage transit from the stomach to the distal parts of the gastrointestinal tract in rats.
We show that a temporal modification of the environment in the animal stomach can effectively protect the Twort-like therapeutic antistaphylococcus phage A5/80 (from the Bacteriophage Collection of the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy PAS in Wroclaw, Poland) from inactivation by gastric juice, allowing a significant proportion of orally administered A5/80 to reach the intestine.
Interestingly, we found that yogurt can significantly promote phage transit. Given the immunomodulatory effect of phages, our data suggest that phages and yogurt can act synergistically in mediating their probiotic effects and increase the efficacy of oral phage therapy.
We also show that orally administered phages of similar size, morphology, and sensitivity to acidic environments can differ in their translocation into the bloodstream. This was observed in mice, where a therapeutic staphylococcal phage A5/80 entered the blood after oral administration in combination with an antacid, while T4 phage could not be detected, even when administered at a 103-fold higher dose. Our results also suggest that the entry of phages from the digestive tract into the blood may be species-specific
