Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The effects of staphylococcal bacteriophage lysates on cancer cells in vitro

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Clinical and Experimental Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bacteriophages constitute a serious alternative to antibiotic therapy of bacterial infections. They are also extremely numerous entities: phages can be found in almost all places on Earth and are constantly present in human and animal bodies. Observations of the effect of therapeutic staphylococcal phages and their bacterial hosts on melanoma migration in vitro are reported in this article. Together with bacteriophage preparations, disrupted Staphylococci (host strains) were investigated to compare the effects of bacteria with those of bacteriophages. Migration was decreased by all the investigated preparations in various ways and this was rather due to the activity of the bacterial components. Importantly, none of the investigated bacteriophage or bacterial preparations induced an increase in the migration activity of melanoma cells, which is important from the perspective of the therapeutic use of phage lysates. The possible presence of staphylococcal enterotoxins in the therapeutic bacteriophage preparations was also verified. All the studied therapeutic bacteriophage preparations were negative for the Staphylococcal enterotoxins A, B, C, D, and E (i.e., the enterotoxin content was less than 0.2–0.5 ng/ml).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Stone R (2002) Stalin’s forgotten cure. Science 298:728–731

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Sulakvelidze A (2005) Phage therapy: an attractive option for dealing with antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Drug Discov Today 10:807–809

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Merril CR, Scholl D, Adhya SL (2003) The prospect for bacteriophage therapy in Western medicine. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2:489–497

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kutter E (2005) Phage therapy: bacteriophages as natural self-limiting antibiotics. In: Pizzorno J, Murray M (eds) Textbook of natural medicine. Churchill Livingstone, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  5. Skurnik M, Strauch E (2006) Phage therapy: facts and fiction. Int J Med Microbiol 296:5–14

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Dabrowska K, Switała-Jelen K, Opolski A, Weber-Dabrowska B, Gorski A (2005) Bacteriophage penetration in vertebrates. J Appl Microbiol 98:7–13

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Dabrowska K, Switała-Jeleń K, Opolski A, Górski A (2006) Possible association between phages, hoc protein, and the immune system. Arch Virol 151:209–215

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Górski A, Kniotek M, Perkowska-Ptasińska A, Mróz A, Przerwa A, Gorczyca W, Dabrowska K, Weber-Dabrowska B, Nowaczyk M (2006) Bacteriophages and transplantation tolerance. Transpl Proc 38:331–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Przerwa A, Zimecki M, Switała-Jeleń K, Dabrowska K, Krawczyk E, Łuczak M, Weber-Dabrowska B, Syper D, Miedzybrodzki R, Górski A (2006) Effects of bacteriophages on free radical production and phagocytic functions. Med Microbiol Immunol 195:143–150

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Górski A, Wazna E, Weber-Dabrowska B, Dabrowska K, Switała-Jeleń K, Miedzybrodzki R (2006) Bacteriophage translocation. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol 46:313–319

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Gorski A, Weber-Dabrowska B (2005) The potential role of endogenous bacteriophages in controlling invading pathogens. Cell Mol Life Sci 62:511–519

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Adams MH (1959) Bacteriophages. Inter Science Publishers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  13. Skehan P, Storeneg R, Scudiero D, Monks A, McMahon J, Vistica D, Warren JT, Bokesch H, Kenney S, Boyd MR (1990) New colorimetric cytotoxicity assay for anti-drug screening. J Natl Cancer Inst 82:1107–1112

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Dabrowska K, Opolski A, Wietrzyk J, Switala-Jelen K, Boratynski J, Nasulewicz A, Lipinska L, Chybicka A, Kujawa M, Zabel M, Dolinska-Krajewska B, Piasecki E, Weber-Dabrowska B, Rybka J, Salwa J, Wojdat E, Nowaczyk M, Gorski A (2004) Antitumour activity of bacteriophages in murine experimental cancer models caused possibly by inhibition of β3 integrin signaling pathway. Acta Virol 48:241–248

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education from funds for the Bacteriophage Biology and Biotechnology Network (MNISW dec. no. 1/E-35/BWSN-0082/2008).

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest related to the publication of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krystyna Dąbrowska.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dąbrowska, K., Skaradziński, G., Kurzępa, A. et al. The effects of staphylococcal bacteriophage lysates on cancer cells in vitro. Clin Exp Med 10, 81–85 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-009-0066-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-009-0066-9

Keywords

Navigation