Antibiotics have been a cornerstone of modern medicine since the 1940s, but that wasn’t always the case. “Phage therapy Invented by Pasteur researcher Félix d’Hérelle in the 1920s, but as antibiotic “In the late 1930s, it was simpler and more economical to make and use… “Hospital of the Cité Universitaire in Paris. Increase in bacterial resistance to treatments forcing scientists to return to this ancient practice.
Antibiotics extend life Over 20 years old. But in recent years, certain bacteria, such as E. coli, Show yourself to be increasingly resistant to traditional treatments and become what we call “superbugs.” The consequences were catastrophic, from therapeutic impasse after the patient dies. The World Health Organization believes that antimicrobial resistance is a cause of Death toll exceeds 1 million in 2019. The health organization says this is the biggest threat to public health, also known as the next pandemic.
Phage therapy So seems to be the solution to this problem Disaster. This technology includes use virusescalled bacteriophages or bacteriophages, occur naturally in the environment, destroy in a targeted manner Pathogenic bacteria without causing harmful effects on human cells. “The concept is simple: the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Dr. Musila, chief scientist of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Unit at the Kenya Research Institute, concluded to National Geographic Media.
Scientists from the Pasteur Institute, Inserm, AP-HP and Université Paris-Cite developed a new tool This will allow Select virus Phage most suitable for a given patient. This model is based on AIpublished in the journal natural microbiology From October 31, 2024.
Search databases for specific phages
To best find the most suitable combinations, French scientists created a database 403 strains of E. coli and 96 phages. Purpose: To evaluate interactions between bacteriophages and bacteriophages bacteria. “We put the phage in contact with the bacteria in culture, Observe which bacteria are killed. we studied 350,000 interactions and successful identificationat the bacterial genome level, possible predictive features Phage effectivenessDr. Aude Bernheim, lead author of the study and head of the Laboratory of Microbial Molecular Diversity at the Pasteur Institute, emphasized in the press release.
they found Receptors on the bacterial surface determine first capacity Phage Is it possible to infect this microorganism Pathogens. “This shows their effectiveness,” explains Florian Tesson, co-first author of the article and a doctoral student at the Laboratory of Molecular Diversity of Microorganisms at the Pasteur Institute and IAME at Cité-Inserm University in Paris.
Analyze pathogens to better target them
Scientists then use the information gathered and artificial intelligence program in order to evaluate What virus is most effective. To determine this, artificial intelligence relies onPathogen genome analysisand more specifically to regions encoding bacterial membrane receptors. In fact, the latter is the “door of entry” for phages.
After more than two years of work, So artificial intelligence can correctly predict phage effectiveness It was able to fight against the E. coli in the database 85% of the time simply by analyzing the bacteria’s DNA. “The results exceeded our expectations,” said Aude Bernheim.
Effective in more than 90% of cases
Research continues E. Bacterial strain analysis Escherichia coli Responsibility for pneumonia. AI of choicetailor-made “cocktails” for each of them three phages. In 90% of cases, the AI-selected phages eliminated the bacteria.
For researchers, these Very promising results Paving the way for the next few years Personalized and fast treatment options Phages exert this effect when E. coli encounters a therapeutic impasse.
“We still have to Test phage behavior In a different environment, but the proof of concept has been completed. we hope to be able to Expand this to other pathogenic bacteriabecause our artificial intelligence is designed to easily adapt to other scenarios and provide personalized phage treatments in the future,” the researchers clarified.
