Antibiotic resistance, a specific type of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), is a growing global health concern. This occurs when bacteria develop resistance to the antibiotics created to kill them.
As antibiotic resistance grows, viruses called bacteriophages that are used to attack bacteria are making their mark as a new method of fighting infections.
The problem is alveolar macrophages, immune cells in the lungs, clean up these viruses before they can do their job.
A group of researchers in Paris, France recently discovered that in mice with complicated lung infections in which the macrophages were active, the phages were gone quickly and the infections remained. But in the mice without the immune cells, the phages were able to completely wipe out the bacteria.
This demonstrates that though microphages help to fight infection, they can also sabotage phage therapy by eliminating helpful viruses.
The paper, published in Nature Communications, says strategies are needed to work around these immune cells in order for phage treatments to succeed against drug-resistant lung infections.
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