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REVIEW article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Phage Biology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1476041
This article is part of the Research Topic Bacteriophages and Phage-Engineered Products for Antibacterial and Anticancer Applications View all 4 articles

Phage therapy to treat cystic fibrosis Burkholderia cepacia complex lung infections: perspectives and challenges

Provisionally accepted
Jack S. Canning Jack S. Canning 1,2Daniel R. Laucirica Daniel R. Laucirica 2Kak-Ming Ling Kak-Ming Ling 2,3Mark P. Nicol Mark P. Nicol 4Stephen M. Stick Stephen M. Stick 2,5,6Anthony Kicic Anthony Kicic 2,5,6*
  • 1 Division of Infection and Immunity, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
  • 2 Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute,, University of Western Australia, Australia
  • 3 School of Population Health, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
  • 4 Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 5 Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Perth Children's Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
  • 6 Centre for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Burkholderia cepacia complex is a cause of serious lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis, exhibiting extremely high levels of antimicrobial resistance. These infections are difficult to treat and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. With a notable lack of new antibiotic classes currently in development, exploring alternative antimicrobial strategies for Burkholderia cepacia complex is crucial. One potential alternative seeing renewed interest is the use of bacteriophage (phage) therapy. This review summarises what is currently known about Burkholderia cepacia complex in cystic fibrosis, as well as challenges and insights for using phages to treat Burkholderia cepacia complex lung infections.

    Keywords: Bacteriophage, Burkholderia, antimicrobial resistance, phage therapy, Cystic Fibrosis

    Received: 05 Aug 2024; Accepted: 26 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Canning, Laucirica, Ling, Nicol, Stick and Kicic. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Anthony Kicic, Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute,, University of Western Australia, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.