Project No. 2348

PRIORITY PROJECT

Primary Supervisor

Dr Franklin Nobrega – University of Southampton

Co-Supervisor(s)

Dr Nela Nikolic – University of Southampton

Dr Matthew Wand – UKHSA (CASE partner)

Summary

Antimicrobial resistance is a rising global threat, with novel treatments urgently needed to treat the rise of antimicrobial resistant bacterial infections which caused over one million deaths in 2019.

Antimicrobial resistance is a rising global threat, with novel treatments urgently needed to treat the rise of antimicrobial resistant bacterial infections which caused over one million deaths in 2019. Escherichia coli has emerged as a pathogen with increasing antibiotic resistance and is a causative of multiple conditions including bloodstream infections and urinary tract infections (UTIs). While non-recurrent urinary tract infections caused by E. coli occur around 75% of the time, almost a quarter of UTI patients will suffer with chronic infections, which are typically less responsive to treatment with antibiotics. Bacteriophages, viruses which can infect and lyse bacteria, show potential as an alternative treatment for urinary tract infections. To demonstrate this, the RAB phage collection was created, which is comprised of 138 bacteriophages isolated from water samples from Portswood (Hampshire, UK), the Isle of Wight (UK), and five wastewater treatment plants in Denmark. Phages were isolated utilising four strains of E. coli. Testing of the phage collection against diverse E. coli strains allowed the development of a five-phage cocktail capable of lysing 95% of 327 tested strains. Future work will address the therapeutic potential of this phage collection with regards to the human immune response and testing on uropathogenic E. coli to further the argument for using phages as an alternative therapeutic.