Bacteriophage to prevent infection by antibiotic-resistant enterococci

 描述(由申请人提供)：迫切需要新的战略和疗法来克服抗药性细菌感染的祸害。肠球菌是医院获得性感染的三个最常见的原因之一，其中许多是由对包括万古霉素在内的多种抗生素耐药的肠球菌菌株引起的。耐药肠球菌的系统性感染发生在胃肠道的定植之后，这是由于抗生素治疗导致耐药肠球菌数量的大量增加。因此，在抗生素治疗之前、期间或之后减少或消除耐药肠球菌对GI定植的策略是减少耐药肠球菌感染发生率和耐药菌株传播的创新方法。我们将使用一种新的肠球菌对GI定植的小鼠模型，其特征与在人类中观察到的抗生素诱导的肠球菌扩张相似，以探索减少肠球菌GI定植的策略。特别是，这里提出的研究试图在抗生素治疗之前或期间使用裂解肠球菌噬菌体来减少哺乳动物胃肠道中肠球菌的丰度，以此作为预防耐药肠球菌感染的一种手段。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): New strategies and therapeutics to overcome the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are urgently needed. Enterococci are among the 3 most common causes of hospital-acquired infections, many of which are caused by enterococcal strains that are resistant to multiple antibiotics, including vancomycin. Systemic infections with antibiotic-resistant enterococci occur subsequent to colonization of the gastrointestinal tract, enabled by antibiotic therapy that leads to massive increases in abundance of drug-resistant enterococci. Thus, strategies to reduce or eliminate GI colonization by antibiotic-resistant enterococci before, during, or after antibiotic therapy represent innovativ approaches to reducing the incidence of antibiotic-resistant enterococcal infection and the spread of antibiotic-resistant isolates. We will use a new mouse model of GI colonization by enterococci with features that mimic the antibiotic-induced enterococcal expansion observed in humans to explore strategies to reduce enterococcal GI colonization. In particular, the research proposed here seeks to use lytic enterococcal bacteriophage to achieve reductions in enterococcal abundance in the mammalian GI tract before or during antibiotic therapy as a means of preventing infection by antibiotic-resistant enterococci.