Bacteriophages: antibacterials with a future?
The hypothesis as to whether a benign species of bacteria could kill a virulent kind has to this point been untested. Recently it was shown that in the macrophage, bacteriophages, when properly introduced through a nonvirulent microbe, had a killing rate for virulent AIDS Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium far in excess of modern day antibiotics. The study in effect brought a natural phenomena, lysogeny, whereby one bacterial colony kills another thru phage weaponry, to bear in the conquest of hard-to-kill, antibiotic resistant pathogens. This killing occurred intracellularly, within the white blood cell using Mycobacterium smegmatis, a benign bacterial species found generally in smegma secretions from human genitalia as well as soil, dust and water, and first identified in 1884. The subsequent treatment of M. avium-infected, as well as M. tuberculosis-infected RAW 264.7 macrophages, with M. smegmatis transiently infected with TM4 resulted in a unexpectedly large time- and titer-dependent reduction in the number of viable intracellular bacilli. In addition, the M. smegmatis vacuole harboring TM4 fused with the M. avium vacuole in macrophages. These results suggested a potentially novel concept to kill intracellular pathogenic bacteria and warrant future development.
Broxmeyer
Lawrence
L
Med-America Research, 148-14A Eleventh Avenue, Whitestone, NY 11357, USA. medamerica1@cs.com
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008242:Lysogeny; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009162:Mycobacterium avium / Q000378:metabolism; D020102:Mycobacterium smegmatis / Q000378:metabolism; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000378:metabolism; D010588:Phagosomes
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents