Phage and Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Creative Biolabs is committed to providing comprehensive services in the field of phages. We are equipped with a team of professionals and state-of-the-art equipment, and facilities to provide our global clients not only with Mycobacterium tuberculosis phage-based therapy development and manufacturing services but also with knowledge support to overcome barriers in the research and development process.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) belongs to the family Mycobacteriaceae, which is the cause of human tuberculosis (TB) and zoonotic disease. The transmission of the bacteria depends mostly on environmental factors. Almost one-third of the world's population is infected, mainly in developing countries such as Africa, resulting in tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from infectious diseases worldwide. Tuberculosis initially begins with the deposition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis contained in aerosol droplets on the alveolar surface of the lungs, whose clinical manifestations show consumption and phthisis, spinal deformity and other bone defects, meningitis in the central nervous system, and many other organ systems. Current treatment and prevention of TB include administrations of live attenuated vaccines and several antibiotics, which result in steadily declining TB morbidity and mortality rates in developed countries. However, with the rapid spread of infection in immunocompromised populations and the extensive administration of antibiotics, an increasing number of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis strains and extensively drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis have emerged. In areas lacking healthy living conditions and adequate medical care, there is still a need to develop innovative drugs for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections to reduce the problems associated with antibiotic resistance.

Bacteriophages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Since bacteriophages may be used as sophisticated tools for bacterial isolation and diagnostics as well as treatments to control harmful bacteria infection and coinfection, they have recently attracted the attention of researchers and developers. From the 1960s until the early 1980s, bacteriophages were ideal tools for the identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis subtypes. With the development of molecular technologies, phage tools were gradually obsolete. Mycobacteriophage therapy, with its specificity for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, low manufacturing costs, and anti-antibiotic resistance features, has emerged as an important alternative for the treatment of tuberculosis. There are over 4200 bacteriophages isolated for the Mycobacterium spp.. As treatment of antibiotic resistance is usually individualized, the main approach to phage therapy for TB is the formation of phage cocktails for therapeutic use. Phage cocktails not only infect and kill a wide range of clinical isolated Mycobacterium spp., but are diverse enough to minimize the possibility of the emergence of anti-phage derivatives.

Fig.1 Steps involved in phage mediated Mycobacterium tuberculosis lysis using Mycobacterium smegmatis. (Azimi, 2019)

Creative Biolabs is a leading contract research and manufacturing company. Our professional team solves any problems you may encounter in developing Mycobacterium tuberculosis phage therapies, including identification and isolation of specific phages, phage resistance avoidance, phage bioengineering, and formulation and stabilization of phage drug formulations. Our experts also design customized solutions for phage-based Mycobacterium tuberculosis detection and phage-based vaccines. If you have the intention of learning more knowledge about phage and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Reference:

1. Azimi, T.; et al. Phage therapy as a renewed therapeutic approach to mycobacterial infections: a comprehensive review. Infection and drug resistance. 2019, 12: 2943.