The Deadliest Being On Planet Earth -- The Bacteriophage

[Fweethawt]

 

[pantheory]

Pretty cool. Didn't know there have been so many successful experimental treatments like this and the beginnings of clinical trials. It seems fairly certain that bacteriophages will become an important part of  our arsenal of anti-bacterial treatments in the foreseeable future

 

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00945087

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5471325/

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3400130/

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd4695

 

What happens when chosen viruses (phages, and some bacteria) interact with specific cancer cells?

Based upon our immune system, "It turns out that many of the mechanisms that cancer cells use to escape growth limits also defeat (their) defenses to limit viral growth. Cancer cells are thus often especially susceptible to infection and killing by viruses.

This observation - now well over a hundred years old - gave rise to the field of oncolytic viral therapy" treatments. The future of this medical treatment to become part of our arsenal of medical treatments for cancers also seems certain in the foreseeable future.

https://www.quora.com/What-happens-when-a-virus-bacterium-etc-interacts-with-a-cancer-cell