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Natural Science Forum / Biology / Microbiology / March 2005bacteriophage potential?
Hi, i was wondering if there is any research going on that involves using bacteriophage type viruses to aid in the curing/removing of bacterial illnesses in humans... or if this is impossible could someone please tell me why? > Hi, i was wondering if there is any research going on that involves > using bacteriophage type viruses to aid in the curing/removing of > bacterial illnesses in humans... > > or if this is impossible could someone please tell me why? Google for bacteriophage (or phage) therapy. Do the same on PubMed. You will *lots* of citations. While there are problems with phage specificity in terms of the specific bacteria they will infect, making it necessary to identify the infecting bacterium before beginning therapy to assure that the right phage is used, and concerns about splenic clearance and/or immune responses to the phage if introduced into the circulation, the fact that only the desired bacteria will be attacked and that the phage input is dramatically increased by replication makes phage therapy look pretty good in these days of increasing antibiotic resistance among bacteria. There is research being done to deal with both of these issues.  SignatureLarry D. Farrell, Ph.D. Professor of Microbiology Idaho State University >Hi, i was wondering if there is any research going on that involves >using bacteriophage type viruses to aid in the curing/removing of >bacterial illnesses in humans... Betty Kutter, a phage researcher at Evergreen State College, has posted a fine analysis of phage therapy, with discussion of the history and "current" status. http://www.evergreen.edu/phage/phagetherapy/phagetherapy.htm Beyond that, I second Larry's post. bob > >Hi, i was wondering if there is any research going on that involves > >using bacteriophage type viruses to aid in the curing/removing of [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > bob wow, thanks guys... im currently taking grade 11 biology, and am strongly considering a future in virology/ microbiology. I came up with the idea for the bacteriophage when we were studying viruses, my teacher wasnt too sure of the answer, so I thought i's ask some pros. thanks again! >> >Hi, i was wondering if there is any research going on that involves >> >using bacteriophage type viruses to aid in the curing/removing of [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > thanks again! Why don't you read Arrowsmith, by Sinclair Lewis? It's a novel, first published in 1926 in which the protagonist is a doctor who experimentas with phage as a treatment for bacterial disease. Apparently the idea was popular then, in the early days of phage biology. I read it in high school - and it's one of the things which propeled me on into Microbiology [and a lot of phage work in my early days]. Of course, rotifers also attracted me to the microscopic world. -- lynx >>>>Hi, i was wondering if there is any research going on that involves >>>>using bacteriophage type viruses to aid in the curing/removing of >>>>bacterial illnesses in humans... [snip] > Why don't you read Arrowsmith, by Sinclair Lewis? It's a novel, first > published in 1926 in which the protagonist is a doctor who experimentas with [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > -- > lynx While Arrowsmith is an excellent read, keep in mind that very little was known about how phages actually work back in the 1920's. Among the reasons that phage therapy was dropped in the U.S. and most other developed countries was the fact that most of the therapy was attempted without any understanding of the systems, specificities, etc., so many attempts were doomed to failure from the outset. Additionally, many of the early attempts were essentially uncontrolled and so poorly designed that results, either positive or negative, were of little real use. You need to do lots of reading of current literature to see how things have progressed to come to a reasonable understanding of this extremely interesting segment of virology. Nonetheless, Arrowsmith is a reflection of how much excitement phage therapy caused in the 1920's and 1930's. SignatureLarry D. Farrell, Ph.D. Professor of Microbiology Idaho State University I just discovered "Arrowsmith" as a book on tape and finished it just a couple of weeks ago. I'll admit I wondered about whether phage therapy was a valid or not. It's interesting that this research is still going on. Lewis won the Nobel Prize for Literature later one, and I believe won the Pulitzer for this book, so it's indeed a classic. I was in awe of the fact that many things in medicine (i.e. the politics of it all) haven't changed a whole lot since the early part of the 20th century. Max Gottlieb, Arrowsmith's mentor, is an extremely interesting caricature of the "perfect researcher." Yes, the actual part about the research is dated, but the interactions of the characters, and the extremely fascinating part about the plague outbreak is a must-read for any budding [that's you, Spencer] or current microbiologists. I am an avid reader [usually have one tape going in my car, and another book to read in the house going on all the time] and quickly moved this novel up to my top ten of all time. Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP) Microbiology 30 years > While Arrowsmith is an excellent read, keep in mind that very little was > known about how phages actually work back in the 1920's. >> >Hi, i was wondering if there is any research going on that involves >> >using bacteriophage type viruses to aid in the curing/removing of [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >with the idea for the bacteriophage when we were studying viruses, my >teacher wasnt too sure of the answer, so I thought i's ask some pros. The following article came out last summer: Sandra Chibani-Chennoufi, Josette Sidoti, Anne Bruttin, Elizabeth Kutter, Shafiq Sarker, and Harald Brüssow In Vitro and In Vivo Bacteriolytic Activities of Escherichia coli Phages: Implications for Phage Therapy ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS AND CHEMOTHERAPY, July 2004, p. 2558-2569. Note that Kutter is one of the authors. I think you will find this paper freely available online; this publisher (The American Society for Microbiology) releases articles for free access after six months. Go to http://www.journals.asm.org Choose the journal title, etc. Some of the article may be too technical for you, but much should be readable and interesting. You -- and the teacher -- may find it interesting to at least browse. I endorse the suggestion to read Arrowsmith -- not as science per se, but as a good piece of literature that happens to include some science. The idea to use phage as medical treatment really dates back to the original discovery of phage. As others have noted, it didn't work very well in the old days -- largely because the understanding of the system was so poor. When antibiotics came along, interest in phage therapy declined. Now, as we have problems with antibiotics, there is a resurgence of interest in phage therapy -- and modern knowledge of how phage work to build on. bob |
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