AUTHOR=Fujimoto Kosuke , Uematsu Satoshi 

TITLE=Phage therapy for Clostridioides difficile infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1057892

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.1057892

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Clostridioides difficile</italic> is endemic in the intestinal tract of healthy people. However, it is responsible for many healthcare-associated infections, such as nosocomial diarrhea following antibiotic treatment. Importantly, there have been cases of unsuccessful treatment and relapse related to the emergence of highly virulent strains of <italic>C. difficile</italic> and resistance to antimicrobial agents. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is considered an effective therapy for recurrent <italic>C. difficile</italic> infection. However, its safety is of concern because deaths caused by antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections after FMT were reported. Therefore, the development of effective <italic>C. difficile</italic>-specific treatments is urgently needed. In this review, we summarize the importance of phage therapy against <italic>C. difficile</italic>, and describe a novel next-generation phage therapy developed using metagenomic data.</p>