A model that predicts the efficacy of antibacterial phage therapy

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health challenge, but while bacteriophages (viruses that kill bacteria) may be a potential weapon against antibiotic-resistant pathogens, multiple challenges rema.

Inserm's co-principal investigator Dr Jérémie Guedj said: "In this study, we propose a new approach to simplify the clinical development of phage therapy, which otherwise continues to suffer from its limitatio.

Guedj and colleagues report their model in Cell Report.

The discovery of antibiotics revolutionized the history of medicine in the 20th century, allowing us to fight bacteria effectively for the first ti.

The treatment involves the use of bacteriophages, which target pathogenic bacteria and destroy them, but cannot infect huma.

To remove these barriers, Guedj's research team at Inserm, in collaboration with the team of .

Models are constructed using various in vitro and in vivo experimental da.

In particular, they used parameters of phage infection determined in the laboratory (for example, the duration of the bacterial infection cycle, the amount of virus released when a bacterium is destroyed) and collected in experiments using a mouse model of lung infection informati.

Some animals were infected with a glowing.

Using their model, the scientists showed that the route of administration is an important parameter for improving animal survival: the faster the phage comes into contact with the bacteria, the more effective it .

Equally important, the model integrates data on the animal's immune response in the context of phage thera.

The authors conclude,.

Combination of in vivo phage therapy data with in silico model highlights key parameters for pneumonia treatment efficacy