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Phage–antibiotic combinations: a promising approach to constrain resistance evolution in bacteria
Author(s) -
North Olesia I.,
Brown Eric D.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/nyas.14533
Subject(s) - antibiotic resistance , antibiotics , bacteria , phage therapy , biology , resistance (ecology) , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteriophage , genetics , escherichia coli , ecology , gene
Antibiotic resistance has reached dangerously high levels throughout the world. A growing number of bacteria pose an urgent, serious, and concerning threat to public health. Few new antibiotics are available to clinicians and only few are in development, highlighting the need for new strategies to overcome the antibiotic resistance crisis. Combining existing antibiotics with phages, viruses the infect bacteria, is an attractive and promising alternative to standalone therapies. Phage–antibiotic combinations have been shown to suppress the emergence of resistance in bacteria, and sometimes even reverse it. Here, we discuss the mechanisms by which phage–antibiotic combinations reduce resistance evolution, and the potential limitations these mechanisms have in steering microbial resistance evolution in a desirable direction. We also emphasize the importance of gaining a better understanding of mechanisms behind physiological and evolutionary phage–antibiotic interactions in complex in‐patient environments.