Bacteriophages (phage) are a surprisingly old form of treatment, but because of the widespread shift to antibiotics, they have been left in the dust. Few countries, like Georgia, are still using it. There is a negative stigma surrounding phage clinical treatment in the western world. But as bacterias evolve, they are becoming immune to these antibiotics. And so, we in the field should study concentrated phage compounds, in search for a cure to several diseases. Phage, being such a powerful “virus”, could possibly cure cancer, do you think that this might be the case in the near future?
Pablo, While you are correct that the 'Western Countries' are resistant to the scary idea of taking viruses, it is slowly gaining evidence and will become a source for fighting bacteria. Antibiotic resistance (not immunity) is a real and growing problem. But a 'powerful' virus that infects bacteria is not going to be able to infect and kill cancer cells, unless by some unknown method could find a way to modify the viral structures to attach only to a specific kind of cancer cell. Modifying a human virus so that it can attach to unique cancer receptors would be a much more likely than any change to a bacteriophage. For human pathogenic viruses that could only attack cancer cells, than the pathogenic nature could kill the cells. Bacteriophages would not only need major changes to their receptor binding, but would need to be altered to be able to kill the human cell. Two difficult steps, so not really a very good option.
Bacteriophages are by definition viruses that infect bacteria, they are therefore used to target infectious diseases that are caused by bacteria. The problem is that bacteriophages are often very specific to a particular type of bacterium.
Several approaches use viruses that specifically target mammalian cells to fight cancer. e.g. https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2018/oncolytic-viruses-to-treat-cancer https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-05-fully-reprogrammed-virus-cancer-treatment.html Article Viruses for Tumor Therapy
. Other viruses, e.g. adenoviruses, are modified to deliver e.g. gene therapy to tumor cells.
Or you can use phage as an immunogen (adjuvant) and carrier for anti-cancer vaccines:
http://cancerimmunolres.aacrjournals.org/content/6/12/1486?utm_source=ETOC%20Master&utm_campaign=2cb2e4f012-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_11_29_08_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_aae0ec8d4d-2cb2e4f012-160990161&fbclid=IwAR1vTamLedD3Ba7FQWKejMcY8r1Uy5AxH_tfhhA079YiT562gvbQWd1bV_M
According to clinicaltrials.gov, there are more than 180 clinical trials utilizing adenoviruses as cancer therapeutics, as summarized inPreprint Designer Oncolytic Adenovirus: Coming of Age
The first oncolytic virus to receive FDA approval was a treatment for melanoma known as talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic®), or T-VEC. according to https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2018/oncolytic-viruses-to-treat-cancer
- Badges
- Science topic