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Editorial: Pharmacological and Immunological Action of Bacteriophages: Focus on Phage Therapy

Year: 2022

Type: editorial

Abstract: Pharmacological and Immunological Action of Bacteriophages: Focus on Phage TherapyPhage pharmacology can be studied under two major aspects viz.pharmacodynamics (i.e., a drug's impact on the body) and pharmacokinetics (the body's impact on a drug).Pharmacodynamics of phages mainly focuses on the phage titer used to kill the infection-causing bacterial cells; thus, a number of phages or phage cocktail standardization are very important before administration or initiation of phage therapy.In addition, the phage solution must be free from any type of pyrogenic substances that could cause an altered immune response.Pharmacologically, phages can be treated as very selective and specific toxic antibacterial agents (Carlton et al., 2005).These particular phages showed varied body's humoral and innate immune responses that depend on the type of phage and the infection.On the other hand, phage pharmacokinetics mainly deals with the phage dosage or phage cocktail, which is needed to reach the target site, infect the pathogens, and finally for the bacterial eradication (Dąbrowska et al., 2018;Danis-Wlodarczyk et al., 2021).Unlike drugs, bacteriophages are the bacteria viruses, not chemotherapeutics, and they are mainly employed in combating the bacterial infection, i.e., phage therapy (Sulakvelidze et al., 2001).Overall, this editorial research topic, focuses on phage therapy and emphasizes the latest research concerning the potential therapeutic properties, especially pharmacology and immunology, against infectious multidrug-resistant microbes.Overall, an advanced immunological and pharmacological understanding of phage therapy should encourage and allow researchers to develop phages as antimicrobial "drugs" with improved design and therapy protocols.Phage therapy pharmacological concept is unique in contrast with antibiotics because phages are viruses that impact individual bacterial cells.In addition, bacteriophages can also amplify phage numbers in situ, making it an ideal future candidate against multi-drug resistant microbes with its unique and traditional immunological and pharmacological understanding.Bacteriophages are widespread in the human body, possibly implying that the immune system might not perceive them as a threat (Manohar et al., 2019).Phages appear to adhere to the mucosal surfaces of a wide range of animals, reducing microbial colonization and pathology at these interfaces and providing a layer of immunity that is not acquired from the host (Barr et al., 2013).It has also been hypothesized that lytic phages help to maintain the microbiome's variety and resilience by regulating its makeup (Krut and Bekeredjian-Ding, 2018).Researchers' concerns mainly focused on phage therapy, which may alter the microbiome's composition, or that the preexisting immune response to natural phages may interfere with phage therapy, which must be addressed in relevant

Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology

DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.856542

Authors: Mayank Gangwar, Subhash Karn, Sanjay Chhibber, Elizabeth Kutter, Gopal Nath

Institutions: Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Panjab University, The Evergreen State College

Language: English

Topic: Bacteriophages and microbial interactions

Subfield: Virology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,950