Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.

With the increasing frequency of antibiotic resistance and the decreasing frequency of new antibiotics entering the market, interest has returned to developing bacteriophage as a therapeutic agent. Acceptance of phage therapy, however, is limited by the unknown pharmacodynamics of a replicating agen...

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Main Author: Amy E Kirby
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3511404?pdf=render
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author Amy E Kirby
author_facet Amy E Kirby
author_sort Amy E Kirby
collection DOAJ
description With the increasing frequency of antibiotic resistance and the decreasing frequency of new antibiotics entering the market, interest has returned to developing bacteriophage as a therapeutic agent. Acceptance of phage therapy, however, is limited by the unknown pharmacodynamics of a replicating agent, as well as the potential for the evolution of resistant bacteria. One way to overcome some of these limitations is to incorporate phage and antibiotics into a dual therapy regimen; however, this increases the complexity of the pharmacodynamics. The aim of this study is to develop an experimental system to evaluate the pharmacodynamics of dual phage-drug therapy. A continuous culture system for Staphylococcus aureus is used to simulate the pharmacokinetics of periodic antibiotic dosing alone and in combination with lytic phage. A computer model representation of the system allows further evaluation of the conditions governing the observed pharmacodynamics. The results of this experimental/modeling approach suggest that dual therapy can be more efficacious than single therapies, particularly if there is an overlap in the physiological pathways targeted by the individual agents. In this case, treatment with gentamicin induces a population of cells with a strong aggregation phenotype. These aggregators also have an increased ability to form biofilm, which is a well-known, non-genetic mechanism of drug resistance. However, the aggregators are also more susceptible than the parental strain to the action of the phage. Thus, dual treatment with gentamicin and phage resulted in lower final cell densities than either treatment alone. Unlike in the phage-only treatment, phage-resistant isolates were not detected in the dual treatment.
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spelling doaj.art-7d3427187b6547f3aeae950cf02b069e2022-12-22T03:52:42ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-01711e5101710.1371/journal.pone.0051017Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.Amy E KirbyWith the increasing frequency of antibiotic resistance and the decreasing frequency of new antibiotics entering the market, interest has returned to developing bacteriophage as a therapeutic agent. Acceptance of phage therapy, however, is limited by the unknown pharmacodynamics of a replicating agent, as well as the potential for the evolution of resistant bacteria. One way to overcome some of these limitations is to incorporate phage and antibiotics into a dual therapy regimen; however, this increases the complexity of the pharmacodynamics. The aim of this study is to develop an experimental system to evaluate the pharmacodynamics of dual phage-drug therapy. A continuous culture system for Staphylococcus aureus is used to simulate the pharmacokinetics of periodic antibiotic dosing alone and in combination with lytic phage. A computer model representation of the system allows further evaluation of the conditions governing the observed pharmacodynamics. The results of this experimental/modeling approach suggest that dual therapy can be more efficacious than single therapies, particularly if there is an overlap in the physiological pathways targeted by the individual agents. In this case, treatment with gentamicin induces a population of cells with a strong aggregation phenotype. These aggregators also have an increased ability to form biofilm, which is a well-known, non-genetic mechanism of drug resistance. However, the aggregators are also more susceptible than the parental strain to the action of the phage. Thus, dual treatment with gentamicin and phage resulted in lower final cell densities than either treatment alone. Unlike in the phage-only treatment, phage-resistant isolates were not detected in the dual treatment.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3511404?pdf=render
spellingShingle Amy E Kirby
Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.
PLoS ONE
title Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.
title_full Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.
title_fullStr Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.
title_full_unstemmed Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.
title_short Synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of Staphylococcus aureus.
title_sort synergistic action of gentamicin and bacteriophage in a continuous culture population of staphylococcus aureus
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3511404?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT amyekirby synergisticactionofgentamicinandbacteriophageinacontinuousculturepopulationofstaphylococcusaureus