AUTHOR=Wang Zijing , Cai Ruopeng , Wang Gang , Guo Zhimin , Liu Xiao , Guan Yuan , Ji Yalu , Zhang Hao , Xi Hengyu , Zhao Rihong , Bi Lanting , Liu Shanshan , Yang Li , Feng Xin , Sun Changjiang , Lei Liancheng , Han Wenyu , Gu Jingmin 

TITLE=Combination Therapy of Phage vB_KpnM_P-KP2 and Gentamicin Combats Acute Pneumonia Caused by K47 Serotype Klebsiella pneumoniae

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.674068

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.674068

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Klebsiella pneumoniae</italic> (<italic>K. pneumoniae</italic>) is an important nosocomial and community acquired opportunistic pathogen which causes various infections. The emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) <italic>K. pneumoniae</italic> and carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent <italic>K. pneumoniae</italic> (CR-hvKP) has brought more severe challenge to the treatment of <italic>K. pneumoniae</italic> infection. In this study, a novel bacteriophage that specifically infects <italic>K. pneumoniae</italic> was isolated and named as vB_KpnM_P-KP2 (abbreviated as P-KP2). The biological characteristics of P-KP2 and the bioinformatics of its genome were analyzed, and then the therapeutic effect of P-KP2 was tested by animal experiments. P-KP2 presents high lysis efficiency <italic>in vitro</italic>. The genome of P-KP2 shows homology with nine phages which belong to “<italic>KP15 virus</italic>” family and its genome comprises 172,138 bp and 264 ORFs. Besides, P-KP2 was comparable to gentamicin in the treatment of lethal pneumonia caused by <italic>K. pneumoniae</italic> W-KP2 (K47 serotype). Furthermore, the combined treatment of P-KP2 and gentamicin completely rescued the infected mice. Therefore, this study not only introduces a new member to the phage therapeutic library, but also serves as a reference for other phage-antibiotic combinations to combat MDR pathogens.</p>