Bacteriophages as Immune Modulators: Current Insights and Future Directions

Abstract

Bacteriophages are by far the most abundant biological entities on Earth. A phage is a virus that targets bacterial hosts via the lysogenic cycle or lytic cycle, with the latter serving the principal mechanism in personalized phage therapy for treating bacterial infections. Although phage therapy has been routinely used in some countries for more than half a century ago, the rise of modern antibiotic production and its widespread adoption diminished interest. The emergence of increasingly severe antimicrobial resistance has prompted health care to explore nonantibiotic treatment options, including phage therapy and other bacteriophage-based applications. In examining phage–host cell interactions, this article explores bacteriophage infection cycles, mechanisms of inflammation modulation, their impact on health, and relevant current research. It also highlights phage-induced inflammatory responses and immune modulation, their potential as effective standalone or adjuvant immunological agents, and future directions in research on phages.