Bacteriophages and biotechnology: Antimicrobial Therapy and Vaccine Development
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shaghayegh mohammadi,1,* parand heydarian far,2
1. ashrafi isfahani university
2. ashrafi isfahani university
- Introduction: In recent years, due to the importance of designing the most effective vaccines approach to cure illnesses, phages and phage-based vaccines are extremely vital and play the main role in medical trials. It has been recognized that bacteriophages have many different applications in the modern biotechnology industry: they have been proposed as delivery vehicles for protein and DNA vaccines; gene therapy delivery vehicles; alternatives to antibiotics; for the detection of pathogenic bacteria; and as tools for screening libraries of proteins, peptides or antibodies. In the eukaryotic hosts, phages are inert particulate antigens and cannot trigger pathogenesis so that they do not affect the human cells. Vaccines typically contain one or more adjuvants, used to boost the immune response so that the immune system can recognize the phages which were not accessible to find before
- Methods: In the last decade, many studies have been explored about using phages as Nano-medicine platforms for developing vaccines due to their unique biological characteristics. The whole phage particles can be used for vaccine design in the form of phage-displayed vaccines or phage DNA vaccines. Phage DNA vaccines are the eukaryotic promoter-driven vaccine genes inserted in the phage genomes, which are carried by phages to the target cells to generate antigens. The antigens, either as the immunogenic peptides or proteins displayed on the phages or as the products expressed from the vaccine genes, can serve as vaccines to activate immune responses for disease prevention and treatment. It is hoped that scientists, clinicians, and biotechnologists currently researching or putting phages to practical use are able to expertise and thereby accelerate progress towards further development in this field of biotechnology.
- Results: Both phage-displayed vaccines and phage DNA vaccines promise a brilliant future for developing vaccines. This review presents the recent advancements in the field of phage-based vaccines and their applications in both the prevention and treatment of various diseases. It also discusses the challenges and perspectives in moving this field forwards.
- Conclusion: According to the importance and the applications of phage-based vaccines, However, there are problems with the stability of these vaccines, their transport, targeted delivery, safe use, and side effects. In this Review Article, experimental phage therapy based on viruses replicating in bacterial cells currently offers a chance for development in the treatment of bacterial infections.
- Keywords: Bacteriophage, Phage-based Vaccines, Phage displayed vaccine, Phage DNA vaccine, Treatment
