Abdel-Razek Mahmoud A, Nazeih Shaimaa I, Yousef Nehal, Askoura Momen
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 45519, Egypt.
AMB Express. 2025 Mar 5;15(1):37. doi: 10.1186/s13568-025-01846-0.
The rise of deaths by resistant bacteria is a global threat to public health systems. Klebsiella pneumoniae is a virulent pathogen that causes serious nosocomial infections. The major obstacle to bacterial treatment is antibiotic resistance, which necessitates the introducing of alternative therapies. Phage therapy has been regarded as a promising avenue to fight multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens. In the current study, a novel phage vB_KpnP_KP17 was isolated from sewage, and its lytic potential was investigated against K. pneumoniae. The isolated phage vB_KpnP_kP17 was lytic to 17.5% of tested K. pneumoniae isolates. One step growth curve indicated a virulent phage with a short latent period (20 min) and large burst size (331 PFU/cell). Additionally, vB_KpnP_kP17 maintained its activity against planktonic cells over a wide range of pH, temperature and UV irradiation intervals. The potential of vB_KpnP_KP17 as antibiofilm agent was revealed by the biofilm inhibition assay. The isolated phage vB_KpnP_KP17 at multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 10 inhibited more than 50% of attached biofilms of tested K. pneumoniae isolates. The genome of vB_KpnP_kP17 was characterized and found to be a linear dsDNA of 39,936 bp in length and GC content of 52.85%. Additionally, the absence of toxicity, virulence and antibiotic resistance genes further confirms the safety of vB_KpnP_KP17 for clinical applications. These characteristics make vB_KpnP_KP17 of a potential therapeutic value to manage MDR K. pneumoniae infections. Additionally, the formulation of vB_KpnP_KP17 in a cocktail with other lytic phages or with antibiotics could be applied to further limit biofilm-producing K. pneumoniae infections.
耐药细菌导致的死亡人数上升对公共卫生系统构成了全球性威胁。肺炎克雷伯菌是一种致病性很强的病原体，可引发严重的医院感染。细菌治疗的主要障碍是抗生素耐药性，这就需要引入替代疗法。噬菌体疗法被视为对抗多重耐药（MDR）病原体的一条有前景的途径。在本研究中，从污水中分离出一种新型噬菌体vB_KpnP_KP17，并研究了其对肺炎克雷伯菌的裂解潜力。分离出的噬菌体vB_KpnP_kP17对17.5%的受试肺炎克雷伯菌分离株具有裂解作用。一步生长曲线表明该噬菌体是一种烈性噬菌体，潜伏期短（20分钟），裂解量高（331个噬菌斑形成单位/细胞）。此外，vB_KpnP_kP17在很宽的pH值、温度和紫外线照射时间范围内都能保持对浮游细胞的活性。生物膜抑制试验揭示了vB_KpnP_KP17作为抗生物膜剂的潜力。感染复数（MOI）为10时，分离出的噬菌体vB_KpnP_KP17可抑制受试肺炎克雷伯菌分离株超过50%的附着生物膜。对vB_KpnP_kP17的基因组进行了表征，发现其为线性双链DNA，长度为39,936 bp，GC含量为52.85%。此外，该噬菌体不存在毒性、毒力和抗生素耐药基因，这进一步证实了vB_KpnP_KP17用于临床的安全性。这些特性使vB_KpnP_KP17在治疗多重耐药肺炎克雷伯菌感染方面具有潜在的治疗价值。此外，将vB_KpnP_KP17与其他裂解性噬菌体或抗生素配制成鸡尾酒制剂，可用于进一步限制产生物膜的肺炎克雷伯菌感染。
