Journal Article

Fighting Fire with Fire: Phage Potential for the Treatment of E. coli O157 Infection

Sullivan, Matthew B., Vik, Dean R., Howard-Varona, Adrian, Gazitua, M. Consuelo, Abedon, Stephen T., Chittick, Lauren, Li, Yueh-Fen, Samiec, Jennifer K., Anderson, Paige, Howard-Varona, Cristina, Jensen, Aubrey E., Kinkhabwala, Anika A., Solonenko, Natalie E.

2018

Overview

Hemolytic–uremic syndrome is a life-threating disease most often associated with Shiga toxin-producing microorganisms like Escherichia coli (STEC), including E. coli O157:H7. Shiga toxin is encoded by resident prophages present within this bacterium, and both its production and release depend on the induction of Shiga toxin-encoding prophages. Consequently, treatment of STEC infections tend to be largely supportive rather than antibacterial, in part due to concerns about exacerbating such prophage induction. Here we explore STEC O157:H7 prophage induction in vitro as it pertains to phage therapy—the application of bacteriophages as antibacterial agents to treat bacterial infections—to curtail prophage induction events, while also reducing STEC O157:H7 presence. We observed that cultures treated with strictly lytic phages, despite being lysed, produce substantially fewer Shiga toxin-encoding temperate-phage virions than untreated STEC controls. We therefore suggest that phage therapy could have utility as a prophylactic treatment of individuals suspected of having been recently exposed to STEC, especially if prophage induction and by extension Shiga toxin production is not exacerbated.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: Antibacterial agents / Antibiotic-resistant bacteria / Antibiotics / Antiinfectives and antibacterials / Bacterial diseases / bacteriophage therapy / E coli / Escherichia coli / Gene expression / Genomes / Health services / Infections / lysogenic conversion / Microorganisms / Pathogenesis / phage therapy / Phages / prophage induction / Prophages / read recruitment / Shiga toxin / Toxins / Virions / Virulence