Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1526096
This article is part of the Research Topic New Vaccines and Drugs for Human Microbial Infections View all 9 articles

Novel delivery systems for phages and lysins in the topical management of wound infections: a narrative review

Provisionally accepted
Pan Yang Pan Yang 1Jing Li Jing Li 2*Xiu Mei Ma Xiu Mei Ma 3Nan Hu Nan Hu 4Zhangyong Song Zhangyong Song 2Bin Chen Bin Chen 1*ShiZhu Li ShiZhu Li 5,6*
  • 1 Guangzhou Bay Area Institute of Biomedicine, Guangzhou, China
  • 2 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan Province, China
  • 3 Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Disease Gene Study and Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
  • 4 Dermatology Department, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China
  • 5 State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
  • 6 State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering , College of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

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

    Currently, multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial wound infections (WIs) are an extremely challenging clinical problem for physicians. Recently, compared to traditional single liquid delivery drugs, the study of five novel drug delivery systems (i.e., hydrogel, liposomes, electrospun fibers, nanoparticles and nanoemulsion) for phages and their encoded lysins in WI management has become a hot topic. To assess the current landscape of these emerging technologies, we conducted a comprehensive literature search across PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science up to July 2024, using terms such as "phage", "lysin", "wound", "hydrogel", "liposomes", "fibers", "nanoparticles" and "nanoemulsion".The criteria included original studies of five novel delivery systems for phages and lysins in WI management. The findings highlighted the positive effects of the five novel delivery systems for phages and lysins in WI management, significantly reducing wound bacterial populations, and accelerating healing at the injury site. However, the available literature on novel delivery systems for phages and lysins remains limited, particularly on novel drug delivery systems for lysins. In conclusion, the application of novel drug delivery systems for phages and lysins showed great potential in combating MDR bacterial WIs.

    Keywords: wound, Phage, lysin, Multidrug-resistant, therapy

    Received: 20 Nov 2024; Accepted: 08 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Li, Ma, Hu, Song, Chen and Li. 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:
    Jing Li, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan Province, China
    Bin Chen, Guangzhou Bay Area Institute of Biomedicine, Guangzhou, China
    ShiZhu Li, State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

    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.