Characterization of Yersinia pestis Phage Lytic Activity in Human Whole Blood for the Selection of Efficient Therapeutic Phages.

ABSTRACT: The global increase in multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogenic bacteria has led to growing interest in bacteriophage ("phage") therapy. Therapeutic phages are usually selected based on their ability to infect and lyse target bacteria, using in vitro assays. In these assays, phage infection is determined using target bacteria grown in standard commercial rich media, while evaluation of the actual therapeutic activity requires the presence of human blood. In the present work, we characterized the ability of two different Yersinia pestis lytic phages (ϕA1122 and PST) to infect and kill a luminescent Y. pestis EV76 strain suspended in Brain Heart Infusion (BHI)-rich medium or in human whole blood, simulating the host environment. We found that the ability of the phages to infect and

SUBMITTER: Moses S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7827537 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature