Abstract
Post-operative endophthalmitis caused by Enterococcus spp. progresses rapidly and often results in substantial and irreversible vision loss. Therefore, novel alternative treatments that are effective against enterococcal endophthalmitis are required. Bacteriophage therapy has the potential to be an optional therapy for infectious diseases. Therefore, we investigated the therapeutic potential of three newly isolated enterococcal phages, phiEF7H, phiEF14H1, and phiEF19G, in E. faecalis-induced endophthalmitis. These phages could lyse the broad-range E. faecalis, including strains derived from endophthalmitis and vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis in vitro, as determined by the streak test. Morphological and genomic analyses revealed that these phages were classified into the Herelleviridae genus Kochikohdavirus. The whole genomes of these phages contained 143,399, 143,280, and 143,400 bp, respectively. Endophthalmitis was induced in mice by injection of three strains of E. faecalis derived from post-operative endophthalmitis or vancomycin-resistant strains into the vitreous body. The number of viable bacteria and infiltration of neutrophils in the eye were both decreased by intravitreous injection of phiEF7H, phiEF14H1, and phiEF19G 6 h after injection of all E. faecalis strains. Thus, these results suggest that these newly isolated phages may serve as promising candidates for phage therapy against endophthalmitis.
Highlights
As an application of phages to eye diseases, we previously reported the effectiveness of phage eyedrops against Pseudomonas aeruginosa keratitis in mice [12]
100% of vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis (VRE) strains were lysed by phiEF19G and phiEF14H1. phiEF7H lysed 94.3% of E
This study demonstrated that phages phiEF7H, phiEF14H1, and phiEF19G lyse VRE and E. faecalis isolated from endophthalmitis in vitro and in vivo and can be considered novel therapeutic agent candidates
Summary
Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that infect bacteria. Phages can be isolated from environments, including sewage, food, soil, and the gastrointestinal tract. Phages infect bacteria and lyse the cell wall by producing lytic enzymes in the bacteria. Phage therapy is a method using phages or their products as bioagents for the treatment of bacterial infectious diseases. Phages have the potential to be antibacterial agents to solve the problems caused by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria [1]. The therapeutic effects of systemic and topical phage therapy have been previously demonstrated in a mouse model of sepsis or endophthalmitis [2,3,4]
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