Phage and Shigella

As the problem of antibiotic resistance continues to worsen, researchers are placing increasing emphasis on phage as an alternative therapy. Creative Biolabs, a leading service provider in biological research, offers comprehensive academic support. Our dedicated team of scientists is here to help you solve any problems you may encounter when researching and developing Shigella phage therapies.

Shigella and Shigellosis

Shigella is a genus of rod-shaped Gram-negative facultative anaerobes, that belongs to the family of Enterobacteriaceae. Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella boydii, and Shigella sonnei are four species belonging to the genus Shigella. Shigella, especially S. flexneri in the developing countries and S. sonnei in developed countries are the causes of contagious Shigellosis in primates. Shigella can be transmitted through contact with feces, contaminated food and water. Shigella invades the colonic epithelium, causing inflammation and death of cells lining the colon, which leads to death of colonic commensal bacteria, and further Shigella invasion and toxin release. Shiga toxin is an important cause of intestinal bleeding and fatal hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Therefore, they enter the gastrointestinal tract through the oral route and cause diarrhea containing blood or mucus, stomach pain, cramps, fever, nausea, flatulence, and vomiting. Children under 5 years of age and immunocompromised people are most susceptible to Shigella infection, which may lead to seizures in severer cases. In addition to the acute symptoms, Shigella is considered as one of the pathogenic causes of reactive arthritis. Over the past few years, antibiotic resistance in bacteria has been increasing. Due to the high similarity of Shigella to other members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, especially E. coli, the development of a drug to avoid resistance and cross-resistance is particularly urgent against Shigella.

Bacteriophages of Shigella

Phages are selective for bacteria without affecting other bacteria, are inexpensive for manufacturing, and are anti-resistant, which have been used to control a variety of foodborne pathogens. In addition, phages can be used for bacterial isolation and diagnosis and provide new ideas for therapeutic strategies for treating shigellosis. Shigella primarily infects the intestinal tract and is one of the pathogenic bacteria causing diarrhea. Phage therapy can lyse target bacteria without destroying the intestinal commensal colonies compared to antibiotic therapy, which has an important role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. Phage therapies, especially phage cocktails are the promising treatments for the Shigella biofilm formation. Furthermore, it is necessary to protect the phage activity from the intestinal environment, such as temperature, pH, and permeability, when developing its formulation and stability. The encapsulation of phages in microparticles and nanoparticles can effectively allow the phages to reach the intestine and be released to act on the target bacteria.

Fig.1 Shigella spp.-specific phages Sfin-2 and Sfin-6.¹

Creative Biolabs provides comprehensive academic support to our global customers in phage therapy, phage cocktail configuration, formulation and stability studies, assay studies, etc., to smooth the obstacles you may encounter in your research and development process. If you are interested in phages and Shigella, please directly contact us.

Reference:

1. Ahamed, SK Tousif, et al. "Characterizations of novel broad-spectrum lytic bacteriophages Sfin-2 and Sfin-6 infecting MDR Shigella spp. with their application on raw chicken to reduce the Shigella load." Frontiers in Microbiology 14 (2023): 1240570. Under Open Access license CC BY 4.0, without modification.