REVIEW: Bacteriophages as Therapeutic Preparations: What Restricts Their Application in Medicine

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V. V. Vlassov^1,a*, N. V. Tikunova¹, and V. V. Morozova¹

¹Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received June 15, 2020; Revised August 18, 2020; Accepted August 18, 2020

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The increasing prevalence of bacterial pathogens with multiple antibiotic resistance requires development of new approaches to control infections. Phage therapy is one of the most promising approaches. In recent years, research organizations and a number of pharmaceutical companies have intensified investigations aimed at developing bacteriophage-based therapeutics. In the United States and European countries, special centers have been established that experimentally apply phage therapy to treat patients who do not respond to antibiotic therapy. This review describes the features of bacteriophages as therapeutic tools, critically discusses the results of clinical trials of bacteriophage preparations, and assesses the prospects for using phage therapy to treat certain types of infectious diseases.

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KEY WORDS: bacteriophages, phage therapy, bacterial infections, multidrug resistance, synthetic bacteriophages

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297920110061

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