FagoterapiaKpn

Title: Bacteriophages as biomedical tool against Klebsiella pneumoniae

Research group: Environmental and Biomedical Viruses

The emergency of multidrug-resistant bacteria is one of public health’s main issues. The World Health Organisation created a list of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria including critical-priority nosocomial pathogens capable of causing grave infections that are often lethal; such is the case with Klebsiella pneumoniae. The urgent need to look for alternative treatment put phage therapy under the spotlight, which is based on the use of bacteriophages (phages), viruses exclusively infecting bacteria in a specific manner. K. pneumoniae has a exopolysaccharide capsule making it resistant to external factors, including antibiotics and natural predators such as phages. But some of the latter evolved and adapted to different capsular types. This project’s goal is to obtain a broad-range phage cocktail against multidrug-resistant . pneumoniae, paying particular attention to carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae clones. To that end, K. pneumoniae phages will be isolated and characterised from environmental samples of the Valencian Community. The phages presenting a broad infection spectrum and interesting biological properties will be used to create an optimal phage cocktail, which will be validated in vivo in both bacterial biofilms and the Galleria mellonella model species. Lastly, this project will study the phage resistance emergency, and will determine the involved mechanisms at a molecular level. This unprecedented study seeks to address a wide action spectrum covering the majority of Klebsiella sp. capsular types, which will allow for their use without the need of previously determining the capsular type. This project of certain international impact and high transfer potential is a step further in the fight against multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Generalitat Valenciana (SEJIGENT)

Instituto de Biología Integrativa de Sistemas, Universitat de Valencia-CSIC