tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150621970999626802.post577147928640379475..comments2023-10-31T03:18:31.206-04:00Comments on BacterioFiles: BacterioFiles 328 - Focused Phages Fight FilmsJesse Noarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03914531060781205087noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150621970999626802.post-55770089746382240802018-02-21T17:39:36.279-05:002018-02-21T17:39:36.279-05:00Not sure what you mean by targeting mechanisms, bu...Not sure what you mean by targeting mechanisms, but overall I think this approach could have the most effect in treating very localized infections in the body, especially those involving biofilms like in the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. It could also be useful in industrial settings to prevent bacteria from building up gunk in pipes and such and causing problems or contamination.Jesse Noarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03914531060781205087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150621970999626802.post-38927745954097724852018-02-19T19:40:58.122-05:002018-02-19T19:40:58.122-05:00Well, bacteriophages infect microbes very specific...Well, bacteriophages infect microbes very specifically, so if the goal were to kill cancer and such by infecting it, phages probably wouldn't be a very good choice. However, other viruses are much more promising as treatments for cancer, especially ones that can specifically exploit the cancer's deficiencies while not having much effect on healthy cells. One of these that has been investigated is actually measles! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3926122/<br /><br />Another oncolytic virus, as they're called, has actually been approved by the FDA for treatment of melanoma skin cancer: https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2015/t-vec-melanoma<br /><br />So that's pretty exciting stuff.<br /><br />If the goal isn't infecting so much as, perhaps, delivering anticancer therapies directly to cancer cells in the body, phages might have more effect as a kind of nanomachine, but I don't really know if they would have any advantages over other types of nanoparticle for this purpose.<br /><br />Lastly, cancer may be a bigger thing now, but if we're not more careful about antibiotic use, infection with drug-resistant bacteria could become a very big deal itself, like bacterial infection used to be in the time before antibiotics! So developing phages as another, more targeted and versatile way to treat infections is a very important thing to study now in itself.Jesse Noarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03914531060781205087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150621970999626802.post-57914258906615563612018-02-19T16:02:05.932-05:002018-02-19T16:02:05.932-05:00What type of targeting mechanisms do you think wil...What type of targeting mechanisms do you think will be most impacted by these findings? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150621970999626802.post-79537347837735260142018-02-18T18:01:57.556-05:002018-02-18T18:01:57.556-05:00How likely do you think it will be that we will se...How likely do you think it will be that we will see phages being used to cure bigger disease, such as cancer, in the future?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150621970999626802.post-80112668446929256282018-02-18T14:52:05.470-05:002018-02-18T14:52:05.470-05:00Hi Zoe,
You have understood correctly, and also b...Hi Zoe,<br /><br />You have understood correctly, and also brought up some good questions and challenges that would need to be answered to make this into an effective treatment! <br /><br />Pill and injection could both possibly work as routes of administering the phage, and it might depend on what is being treated and where in the body. Or a pill might be sufficient for everything--to preview an upcoming episode, it's possible that bacteriophages might be able to move fairly freely through the body!<br /><br />How to direct them once inside is another important challenge, one that's a bit outside of my field of knowledge. I would think that applying a magnetic field that's directed enough toward the target site, the phages could get there eventually, but whether that could happen in a reasonable amount of time, I'm not sure. Perhaps a situation like with Iron Man wearing a magnet to pull particles to one particular place, except unfortunately this probably wouldn't make you a superhero, haha. There are researchers working on similar versions of this question though: http://www.labcritics.com/magnets-guide-stem-cells-body-745/<br /><br />Thanks for listening!<br />-JesseJesse Noarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03914531060781205087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150621970999626802.post-15630899315241413072018-02-17T16:31:09.724-05:002018-02-17T16:31:09.724-05:00Hello Dr. Noar,
I enjoyed listening to this weeks...Hello Dr. Noar, <br />I enjoyed listening to this weeks episode. So, just to recap to make sure that I am understanding correctly. When phages are modified with the clusters and coated with the magnetic nanoparticles it is possible to direct the phages to target certain areas? How could this hypothetically work in the human body? Would the phages be introduced through a capsule so that it wouldn't dissolve in the stomach acids and would pass on to the intestine? Or would it be delivered through an injection? Also, would it be possible to direct the modified phages by the use of imaging technology such as a concentrated MRI scan?<br /><br />Thank you, <br />Zoe WaffordFeather Waffordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11093357050596314711noreply@blogger.com