Novel alternatives to antibiotics: bacteriophages, bacterial cell wall
hydrolases, and antimicrobial peptides.
A. Parisien,
Author's Abstract:
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this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2007.03498.x
Byline: A. Parisien (1), B. Allain (2), J. Zhang (1), R. Mandeville (2),
C.Q. Lan (1)
Keywords:
alternative antibacterials; antibiotics resistance; antimicrobial peptide;
bacteriophage; lytic enzyme; virolysin
Abstract:
Summary
Extensive research has been conducted on the development of three groups of
naturally occurring antimicrobials as novel alternatives to antibiotics:
bacteriophages (phages), bacterial cell wall hydrolases (BCWH), and
antimicrobial peptides (AMP). Phage therapies are highly efficient, highly
specific, and relatively cost-effective. However, precautions have to be taken
in the selection of phage candidates for therapeutic applications as some
phages may encode toxins and others may, when integrated into host bacterial
genome and converted to prophages in a lysogenic cycle, lead to bacterial
immunity and altered virulence. BCWH are divided into three groups: lysozymes,
autolysins, and virolysins. Among them, virolysins are the most promising
candidates as they are highly specific and have the capability to rapidly lyse
antibiotic-resistant bacteria on a generally species-specific basis. Finally,
AMP are a family of natural proteins produced by eukaryotic and prokaryotic
organisms or encoded by phages. AMP are of vast diversity in term of size,
structure, mode of action, and specificity and have a high potential for
clinical therapeutic applications.
Author Affiliation:
(1)Department of Chemical Engineering,
(2)Biophage Pharma Inc., 6100 Royalmount,
Article History:
2007/0290: received
Article note:
Christopher Q. Lan, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur St., Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada., E-mail: clan@uottawa.ca
