title: The Effect of Bacteriophage Preparations on Intracellular Killing of Bacteria by Phagocytes.
abstract: Intracellular killing of bacteria is one of the fundamental mechanisms against invading pathogens. Impaired intracellular killing of bacteria by phagocytes may be the reason of chronic infections and may be caused by antibiotics or substances that can be produced by some bacteria. Therefore, it was of great practical importance to examine whether phage preparations may influence the process of phagocyte intracellular killing of bacteria. It may be important especially in the case of patients qualified for experimental phage therapy (approximately half of the patients with chronic bacterial infections have their immunity impaired). Our analysis included 51 patients with chronic Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial infections treated with phage preparations at the Phage Therapy Unit in Wroclaw. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of experimental phage therapy on intracellular killing of bacteria by patients' peripheral blood monocytes and polymorphonuclear neutrophils. We observed that phage therapy does not reduce patients' phagocytes' ability to kill bacteria, and it does not affect the activity of phagocytes in patients with initially reduced ability to kill bacteria intracellularly. Our results suggest that experimental phage therapy has no significant adverse effects on the bactericidal properties of phagocytes, which confirms the safety of the therapy.
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jończyk-Matysiak
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Marzanna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Łusiak-Szelachowska
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Marlena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kłak
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bubak
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland; Phage Therapy Unit, Medical Center of the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland; Department of Clinical Immunology, Transplantation Institute, Medical University of Warsaw, Nowogrodzka 59, 02-006 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Ryszard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Międzybrodzki
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland; Phage Therapy Unit, Medical Center of the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weber-Dąbrowska
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Żaczek
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland; Phage Therapy Unit, Medical Center of the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fortuna
authors.affiliation: Phage Therapy Unit, Medical Center of the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rogóż
authors.affiliation: Phage Therapy Unit, Medical Center of the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Sławomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Letkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Phage Therapy Unit, Medical Center of the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Szufnarowski
authors.affiliation: Bacteriophage Laboratory, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland; Phage Therapy Unit, Medical Center of the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Weigla 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland; Department of Clinical Immunology, Transplantation Institute, Medical University of Warsaw, Nowogrodzka 59, 02-006 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Górski
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D001691:Biological Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D061214:Patient Safety; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000276:immunology; D061251:Primary Cell Culture; D016896:Treatment Outcome