General
The dramatic rise in multi-resistant bacteria is making it increasingly difficult to treat infections with conventional antibiotics. A promising alternative that is currently attracting a lot of attention is phage therapy. This involves using special viruses, known as bacteriophages, to specifically attack and kill harmful bacteria. A recent study shows how versatile this method is and what progress has been made in phage biology, and although this method has great potential and has already been successful in clinical trials, there are still challenges, such as regulatory hurdles. Future research must aim to further develop the therapy and make it safe for use in humans.
In recent years, the rapid increase in multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria has created major challenges worldwide. Conventional antibiotics are increasingly reaching their limits and many infections can no longer be treated effectively. This often leads to serious illness, disability and even death. Countries such as China and India are particularly affected, with millions of people suffering from hospital-acquired infections with resistant bacteria every year. According to estimates, 444 million people worldwide could die from infections by 2050 if no effective alternatives to antibiotics are found.
One of these alternatives that is currently attracting a lot of attention is phage therapy. This involves the use of special viruses, known as bacteriophages, which specifically attack and kill bacteria. Phages undergo either a lytic life cycle, in which they immediately destroy bacteria, or a lysogenic cycle, in which they integrate themselves into the bacterial genome and later cause the cell to burst. Although phage therapy has been researched since the 1980s, it was largely forgotten due to the success of antibiotics. However, in view of increasing antibiotic resistance, this form of therapy is making a comeback.
Of particular interest is the use of CRISPR technology to modify phages so that they can target antibiotic-resistant bacteria even more effectively. This innovation could make it possible to make phage therapy more efficient and at the same time commercially interesting for companies.
However, we still face a number of challenges: Phage research must be further intensified and regulatory hurdles must be overcome in order to make the therapy accessible worldwide. Nevertheless, the research results to date offer promising approaches that could play an important role in the fight against multi-resistant bacteria in the future.