Reinventing the fight against bacteria, one phage at a time.

Limitations, Risks, and Future Perspectives of Engineered Bacteriophages in Targeted Radiotherapy The advent of engineered bacteriophages for targeted radiotherapy represents a significant paradigm shift in cancer treatment. These viral vectors offer the potential for highly specific delivery of therapeutic payloads, such as radioisotopes, directly to tumor cells while sparing healthy tissues. Despite these advantages, several limitations and potential risks must be carefully considered to fully understand their clinical applicability. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the biological, technical, and clinical constraints of engineered phages, while highlighting emerging opportunities for future therapeutic integration. Theranostics  2011; 1:371-380. doi:10.7150/thno/v01p0371 Immunogenicity and Host Response One of the foremost biological limitations of engineered bacteriophages is their immunogenicity . While bacteriophages naturally infect bacteria and are non-pa...

Radioactive Vectorization: Isotope Attachment and Encapsulation in Bacteriophages The use of bacteriophages in therapeutic applications has seen remarkable advancements in recent years, particularly in the field of targeted cancer therapy. Bacteriophages offer unique advantages over traditional drug delivery methods due to their specificity, biocompatibility, and ability to be engineered for precise targeting. A key area of interest lies in the use of bacteriophages as carriers for radioactive isotopes, a strategy that can offer highly localized treatment of tumors with minimal off-target effects. This article explores the methodologies employed in the attachment of radioactive molecules to bacteriophages, focusing on the role of chelators and encapsulation strategies in controlling the release and delivery of radioisotopes. The Basics of Radioactive Vectorization The attachment of radioactive isotopes to bacteriophages forms the cornerstone of phage-based radiotherapy, a cutting-ed...

Engineering the Phage Tail: Receptor Targeting and Tumor Specificity Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that specifically infect bacteria, and their natural specificity is largely determined by the interaction between their tail proteins and bacterial surface receptors. While bacteriophages are naturally non-infectious to human cells, this highly specific recognition mechanism has been exploited to engineer phages for a variety of therapeutic applications, including targeted cancer therapies. Phage therapy, in particular, leverages the precise interactions of phages with their receptors to deliver therapeutic agents, such as radioisotopes or chemotherapeutic compounds, directly to cancer cells, minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues. This concept of utilizing phage-tail modifications for tumor targeting has garnered increasing interest in recent years as a promising alternative to conventional drug delivery and immunotherapy systems. Phage Tail Architecture and its Role ...

Thousands of Lytic Phages Found in Bacterial Genomes In a groundbreaking study that promises to reshape our understanding of viral ecology, researchers have unveiled a vast trove of previously unknown lytic phages through an unprecedented large-scale analysis of bacterial genomes. This work, spearheaded by Perfilyev and colleagues, represents one of the most comprehensive explorations into the hidden diversity of bacteriophages—viruses that infect and destroy bacteria—shedding light on their evolutionary complexity and ecological roles. Until now, the identification and characterization of lytic phages have been constrained by the limitations of traditional isolation techniques and fragmented genomic data. However, the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies coupled with advanced computational tools enabled the authors to scan an enormous collection of bacterial genomes, searching for genetic signatures indicative of lytic phage infections. This innovative approach circumvent...

Applications of Engineered Bacteriophages in Targeted Radiotherapy Radiotherapy remains one of the central pillars of cancer treatment, used in approximately 50–60% of all cancer patients during the course of their disease. Despite continuous technological progress, including intensity-modulated radiotherapy and image-guided approaches, a fundamental limitation persists: ionizing radiation inevitably damages healthy tissues surrounding the tumor. This constraint restricts dose escalation, contributes to acute and chronic toxicities, and limits therapeutic efficacy in radioresistant or anatomically complex tumors. In this context, targeted radiotherapy strategies have emerged as a major research focus, aiming to deliver cytotoxic radiation selectively to malignant cells while sparing normal tissue. Among the emerging vectors explored for this purpose, engineered bacteriophages represent a novel and conceptually disruptive platform. Bacteriophages, viruses that naturally infect bacteri...

The Rise of Modified Bacteriophages: Engineering Viruses for Targeted Therapy Bacteriophages, or "phages," are viruses that specifically infect bacteria, a property that has intrigued researchers for over a century. Initially discovered as a potential therapeutic agent for bacterial infections, phages are now being investigated for their ability to target tumor cells and deliver therapeutic agents directly to the site of cancer. Through the innovative modification of phage genetics, researchers are unlocking the potential to engineer these viruses as highly specific tools in cancer therapy. This article explores the cutting-edge genetic modification techniques used to create phages that can target cancer cells , and how modifications to phage structure, particularly their tail fibers , can enhance their ability to deliver treatments to tumors. Phage Engineering: A Technological Revolution in Cancer Treatment : Phage therapy is not a new concept. In fact, phages have bee...

OPUS NCN grant for research on the biological “arms race” between phages and bacteria Dr Piotr Golec, from the Department of Molecular Virology, Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology UW, has received funding from the National Science Centre (NCN) in the amount of PLN 1,881,850 under the OPUS 29 call for the project entitled “Interactions between lytic phages and  Pseudomonas aeruginosa : impact on pigment metabolism, virulence regulation, and the formation of phage-resistant mutants”, which focuses on analysing the potential use of phages in therapy.  Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are currently one of the biggest threats to human health worldwide. One of the most dangerous of them is  Pseudomonas aeruginosa , a bacterium responsible for severe infections, especially in people with weakened immune systems and in patients suffering from chronic lung diseases. The problem is that this bacterium is increasingly not responding to commonly used antibiotics, so scientist...