Phage cocktail reduces Shigella infection by diminishing bacterial invasion and intercellular inactivation in human epithelial cells. Homo sapiens

Bacteriophages, the natural bacterial hunters, are introduced as a new horizon in the antibiotic resistance era. Although most studies mainly focused on the bacteriolytic effects and bilateral relationship of phage-bacterium, the impact of their battle in the presence of eukaryotic cells remains poorly understood. In this work, an in-vitro model based on human epithelial cells was used to demonstrate interactions of bacterium-phage-cell, deciphering the hidden aspects of phage therapy except for bacteriolytic activity. RNASeq analysis showed there was a higher positive correlation between the control (caco-2 cell only) and phage only treated caco-2 cell compared with rest of samples signifying no or negligible effect of phages on epithelial cells. Comparing the correlation between HKS+phage and phage+HKS with HKS only treated control confirmed the downregulation of inflammatory factors.