phage therapy antipersister strategy

Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii are recognized as critical pathogens, while Pseudomonas aeruginosa is considered a high risk pathogen, because of resistance to multiple antibiotics and emerging therapies. The use of viruses of bacteria, called (bacterio)phages, to kill these pathogens is a promising strategy starting to be implemented in multiple countries across the world. Despite this promise, certain chronic infections still harbour bacterial persister cells, even after phage treatment. To address this challenge, the PHAGES-AntiPERS consortium, comprising experts from diverse fields such as medicine, microbiology, and bioinformatics, is dedicated to pioneering innovative strategies to tackle infections. The consortium aims to combat the development of persister cells in chronic and biofilm-associated infections treated with phages and anti-persister treatments. The success of PHAGES-AntiPERS relies on establishing a reference database and biobank of strains from the bacterial species prone to develop persistent infections in humans (K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa). We are also building an AntiPERS Phage Bank tailored to target persister cells, thus laying the groundwork for innovative and effective treatments against persistent infections. Our goal is to devise and verify "anti-persisters proof of concept strategies" by combining antimicrobial agents like antibiotics, strictly lytic phages, phage-derived enzymes, and a variety of previously identified anti-persister compounds. We will investigate the eradication of persister bacterial cells both in laboratory settings and in living organisms, assessing the phenotypic and genomic factors underlying anti-persister activity at both phage and bacterial levels.