Clinical and experimental bacteriophage studies: Recommendations for possible approaches for standing against SARS-CoV-2.

Khashayar Shahin, Lili Zhang, Mohammad Hossein Mehraban, Jean-Marc Collard, Abolghasem Hedayatkhah, Mojtaba Mansoorianfar, Abbas Soleimani-Delfan, Ran Wang

Journal: Microbial pathogenesis 2022;164():105442

PMID: 35151823

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Abstract

In 2019, the world faced a serious health challenge, the rapid spreading of a life-threatening viral pneumonia, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a betacoronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of January 2022 WHO statistics shows more than 5.6 million death and about 350 million infection by SARS-CoV-2. One of the life threatening aspects of COVID-19 is secondary infections and reduced efficacy of antibiotics against them. Since the beginning of COVID-19 many researches have been done on identification, treatment, and vaccine development. Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) could offer novel approaches to detect, treat and control COVID-19. Phage therapy and in particular using phage cocktails can be used to control or eliminate the bacterial pathogen as an alternative or complementary therapeutic agent. At the same time, phage interaction with the host immune system can regulate the inflammatory response. In addition, phage display and engineered synthetic phages can be utilized to develop new vaccines and antibodies, stimulate the immune system, and elicit a rapid and well-appropriate defense response. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 new variants like delta and omicron has proved the urgent need for precise, efficient and novel approaches for vaccine development and virus detection techniques in which bacteriophages may be one of the plausible solutions. Therefore, phages with similar morphology and/or genetic content to that of coronaviruses can be used for ecological and epidemiological modeling of SARS-CoV-2 behavior and future generations of coronavirus, and in general new viral pathogens. This article is a comprehensive review/perspective of potential applications of bacteriophages in the fight against the present pandemic and the post-COVID era.

Address: Center for Microbes, Development, and Health (CMDH), Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200025, China; Key Laboratory of Phage Research, International Phage Research Center, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural, China; Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province-State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Key Laboratory of Phage Research, International Phage Research Center, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural, China; Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province-State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China.; Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.; Center for Microbes, Development, and Health (CMDH), Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200025, China.; Curtin Medical School, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.; Chinese Academy of Science, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, China.; Key Laboratory of Phage Research, International Phage Research Center, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural, China; Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province-State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2022.105442