Biologists from the University of Gdansk, in collaboration with a researcher from the University of Agriculture in Krakow, decided to test whether treating antibiotic-resistant infections with bacteriophages – viruses that destroy bacterial cells is safe for humans. The results of their study, published in “Nature Communications”, suggest that phage therapy can be considered safe.
In ‘Bacteriophage DNA induces an interrupted immune response during phage therapy in a chicken model’, the authors showed that in response to the appearance of bacteriophage DNA, animal cells start processes that could lead to the activation of a strong immune response, but these are inhibited at a specific stage.
The blocked step is the production of double-stranded RNA molecules necessary to trigger the final stage of a full innate immune response. The response does not occur because the DNA of the bacteriophage is not recognised by an enzyme found in animal cells as well as human cells.
