PUBLICATION

Phage Therapy Application to Counteract Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection in Cystic Fibrosis Zebrafish Embryos

Authors
Cafora, M., Forti, F., Briani, F., Ghisotti, D., Pistocchi, A.
ID
ZDB-PUB-200603-3
Date
2020
Source
Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE   (159): (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology
  • Bacteriophages/physiology
  • Cystic Fibrosis/microbiology*
  • Cystic Fibrosis/therapy*
  • Cytokines/metabolism
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/microbiology*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins/metabolism
  • Inflammation Mediators/metabolism
  • Microinjections
  • Morpholinos/pharmacology
  • Phage Therapy*/adverse effects
  • Pseudomonas Infections/microbiology
  • Pseudomonas Infections/therapy*
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa/drug effects
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa/physiology*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
  • Zebrafish/microbiology*
PubMed
32478753 Full text @ J. Vis. Exp.
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance, a major consequence of diagnostic uncertainty and antimicrobial overprescription, is an increasingly recognized cause of severe infections, complications, and mortality worldwide with a huge impact on our society and on the health system. In particular, patients with compromised immune systems or pre-existing and chronic pathologies, such as cystic fibrosis (CF), are subjected to frequent antibiotic treatments to control the infections with the appearance and diffusion of multidrug resistant isolates. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address alternative therapies to counteract bacterial infections. Use of bacteriophages, the natural enemies of bacteria, can be a possible solution. The protocol detailed in this work describes the application of phage therapy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in CF zebrafish embryos. Zebrafish embryos were infected with P. aeruginosa to demonstrate that phage therapy is effective against P. aeruginosa infections as it reduces lethality, bacterial burden and pro-inflammatory immune response in CF embryos.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping