New Tool PhARIS Speeds Phage Therapy for Drug-Resistant Bacteria
A team led by Professor Andreas Peschel from the University of Tübingen has developed a groundbreaking tool, Phage Aureus RBP Identification System (PhARIS), to advance phage therapy. This new lab tool can identify specific viruses, known as bacteriophages, that can target variants of Staphylococcus aureus within a few hours.
Phage therapy uses bacteriophages to infect and replicate in specific bacterial variants, ultimately destroying them. However, one challenge in this process is choosing the right bacteriophage for a specific bacterial variant. PhARIS addresses this by analyzing the genetic material of phages and recognizing whether a phage can infect a specific Staphylococcus aureus variant based on specific receptor-binding proteins.
Multi-resistant germs, such as Staphylococcus aureus, pose an increasing threat to global health and are difficult to treat with antibiotics. Phage therapy offers an alternative treatment approach, especially for these drug-resistant pathogens. Peschel and Krusche see great potential in PhARIS for treating wound infections and infections associated with implants using phage therapies. The research team plans to further develop the system for other pathogens, making PhARIS a standard tool for labs to use phages as a therapeutic alternative to antibiotics for many different bacterial infections.
PhARIS, developed by Professor Andreas Peschel's team and published in the journal Cell Reports, could significantly contribute to the development of phage therapies in Germany. This tool enables precise identification of receptor-binding proteins on phages targeting Staphylococcus aureus, improving the specificity and effectiveness of phage treatments against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
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