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Phage therapy to control multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa skin infections: in vitro and ex vivo experiments

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Abstract

The main goal of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of phage therapy against one of the most common multidrug-resistant (MDR) agents of skin infections, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A phage suspension [108 plaque-forming units (PFU) mL−1] was obtained using the clinical strain P. aeruginosa 709 as the host. The ability of the phage to inactivate P. aeruginosa was evaluated in vitro and ex vivo (human skin), using a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.5 to 50. In the presence of the phage, the density of P. aeruginosa 709 [105 colony-forming units (CFU) mL−1] in the human skin decreased by 4 logs after 2 h of incubation. The application of a second dose of phage did not increase the efficiency of the therapy. This study indicates that the topical application of phage PA709 efficiently inactivates MDR P. aeruginosa 709. The high efficiency in the inactivation of MDR P. aeruginosa 709, its considerable host range (infection of 30 % of the P. aeruginosa isolates) and its high stability in buffer and ex vivo human skin make this phage very promising for the treatment of P. aeruginosa skin infections. The phage–bacteria interactions were examined in vitro and in ex vivo in order to provide a basis for the selection of the most suitable protocol for subsequent in vivo experiments.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank the microbiology laboratories of the University Hospitals of Coimbra, the Local Health Unit of Matosinhos, the Hospital Infante Dom Pedro and the Avelab Laboratory in Aveiro for providing the bacterial isolates used in this study. The University of Aveiro and Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM, Aveiro, Portugal) funded this investigation. Financial support to Y.J. Silva (SFRH/BD/65147/2009) was provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the form of a PhD grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    A. Vieira, Y. J. Silva, Â. Cunha, N. C. M. Gomes & A. Almeida

  2. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Québec, QC, G1K 7P4, Canada

    H.-W. Ackermann

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  1. A. Vieira
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  2. Y. J. Silva
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  3. Â. Cunha
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  4. N. C. M. Gomes
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  5. H.-W. Ackermann
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  6. A. Almeida
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Correspondence to A. Almeida.

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Vieira, A., Silva, Y.J., Cunha, Â. et al. Phage therapy to control multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa skin infections: in vitro and ex vivo experiments. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 31, 3241–3249 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-012-1691-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-012-1691-x

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