title: Experimental Phage Therapy for Burkholderia pseudomallei Infection.
abstract: Burkholderia pseudomallei is an intracellular Gram-negative bacterial pathogen intrinsically resistant to a variety of antibiotics. Phages have been developed for use as an alternative treatment therapy, particularly for bacterial infections that do not respond to conventional antibiotics. In this study, we investigated the use of phages to treat cells infected with B. pseudomallei. Phage C34 isolated from seawater was purified and characterised on the basis of its host range and morphology using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Phage C34 was able to lyse 39.5% of B. pseudomallei clinical strains. Due to the presence of contractile tail, phage C34 is classified as a member of the family Myoviridae, a tailed double-stranded DNA virus. When 2 × 105 A549 cells were exposed to 2 × 107 PFU of phage C34, 24 hours prior to infection with 2 × 106 CFU of B. pseudomallei, it was found that the survivability of the cells increased to 41.6 ± 6.8% as compared to 22.8 ± 6.0% in untreated control. Additionally, application of phage successfully rescued 33.3% of mice infected with B. pseudomallei and significantly reduced the bacterial load in the spleen of the phage-treated mice. These findings indicate that phage can be a potential antimicrobial agent for B. pseudomallei infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ong
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3286-3823
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Guang-Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Choh
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leang-Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Kumutha Malar
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Vellasamy
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Vanitha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mariappan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.|Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li-Yen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jamuna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vadivelu
mesh_terms: D000072283:A549 Cells; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D058491:Bacterial Load; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology; D008554:Melioidosis / Q000628:therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D000071059:Phage Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D012623:Seawater / Q000821:virology; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents