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Editorial
. 2017 Jun 15:8:981.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00981. eCollection 2017.

Editorial: Phage Therapy: Past, Present and Future

Stephen T Abedon  1 , Pilar García  2 , Peter Mullany  3 , Rustam Aminov  4
Affiliations
Editorial

Editorial: Phage Therapy: Past, Present and Future

Stephen T Abedon et al. Front Microbiol. .
No abstract available

Keywords: bacterial infection treatment; bacteriophage therapy; biocontrol; biofilms; immunology; lysins; regulation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Topics addressed in this editorial. Connections are indicated via horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines, and initial steps are found at the top of the figure. Consideration of time and resources required by each step is beyond the scope of this editorial, though individual aspects are considered in articles as cited in the main text. In summary, phage isolation is typically done in combination with preliminary host-range characterization, i.e., as in terms of enrichment and isolation hosts. This is followed by in vitro characterization in association with further host-range characterization (i.e., involving a larger panel of potential hosts) and bioinformatic (in silico) characterization. Enzybiotic development, if undertaken, typically will follow host-range and in silico characterization. For promising phages, in situ characterization comes next, including animal models for potential human treatments (in vivo characterization), or with other species for non-human treatments. Clinical testing can follow, including treatment of non-human species. Alternatively, phages may be employed for biological control of environments, and both biological control and therapeutic use of phages can be against biofilms. Not only may whole phages be used for therapy or control but so too may enzybiotics. Further development toward successful commercial or public-sector implementation generally must address regulatory requirements.
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Comment on

  • Editorial on the Research Topic Phage Therapy: Past, Present and Future

References

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