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The life of a teenager has been saved by a genetically modified virus.
The British teenager has cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition that prevents the lungs from purging the mucus or bacteria that cause the disease. In a radical move to improve her quality of life, she had just undergone a double lung transplant and everything seemed to go well until a massive infection began to ooze from her sutures.
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She had undergone the procedure in a time frame similar to that of another teenager who was also suffering from massive infections that were spread through their skin and their tissues. Even worse, even the strongest antibiotics had no impact, and both teens were placed in palliative care.
The last hope lies in the library of bacteria in the United States
But there was one last hope. Graham Hatfull, a microbiologist based at the University of Pittsburgh, has spent the last two decades collecting the largest collection of bacteriophages in the world, viruses that eat only bacteria.
Doctors in London contacted Hatfull to find out if he had a phage that could help teenagers. Unfortunately, the patient died from his infections before the unusual treatment could begin, but for the patient, the treatment seemed promising.
The recovery announces a new era of synthetic biology
She started receiving a combined treatment of three phages from Hatfull's lab – two of which were genetically engineered to better attack her specific bacterium. Although it is not yet completely clear, it has shown tremendous signs of improvement, skin lesions have disappeared and it can slowly begin to enjoy a better quality of life.
The science behind this incredible story was published in the journal Nature Medicine. This is the first known use of artificial phages in a human patient.
The story has enormous potential for phages to be used more widely in medicine and as a promising way to defeat the new wave of superbugs.
Custom Engineering Virus
Hatfull uses a global network of undergraduate research volunteers to help her collect for her library. Every volunteer who brings a new plague to the collection has to call it, which has resulted in some interesting choices over the years.
After being contacted by doctors in London, Hatfull discovered three phages that could successfully invade the patient's strain. Mr. Abcessus: the strange Muddy, ZoeJ and BP.
Muddy was the best of the three and he had what is called a lytic life cycle. The phage diverts a bacterial machinery and breeds to millions of copies, which eventually causes the cell to burst and die.
The other two could be genetically modified as part of a process developed by Hatfull so that they could also attack the teenager's infection. The remarkable recovery of the patient announces a new era of synthetic biology.
But Hatfull warns that phages are not a mass treatment against resistant infections. They are created specifically to save one patient but will probably be useless for another.
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