Delineating Surface Epitopes of Lyme Disease Pathogen Targeted by Highly Protective Antibodies of New Zealand White Rabbits

Bacteriophages: a potential game changer in food processing industry

In the food industry, despite the widespread use of interventions such as preservatives and thermal and non-thermal processing technologies to improve food safety, incidences of foodborne disease continue to happen worldwide, prompting the search for alternative strategies. Bacteriophages, commonly known as phages, have emerged as a promising alternative for controlling pathogenic bacteria in food. This review emphasizes the potential applications of phages in biological sciences, food processing, and preservation, with a particular focus on their role as biocontrol agents for improving food quality and preservation. By shedding light on recent developments and future possibilities, this review highlights the significance of phages in the food industry. Additionally, it addresses crucial aspects such as regulatory status and safety concerns surrounding the use of bacteriophages. The inclusion of up-to-date literature further underscores the relevance of phage-based strategies in reducing foodborne pathogenic bacteria's presence in both food and the production environment. As we look ahead, new phage products are likely to be targeted against emerging foodborne pathogens. This will further advance the efficacy of approaches that are based on phages in maintaining the safety and security of food.

Development of Organoids to Study Infectious Host Interactions

Emerging organoid research is paving way for studies in infectious diseases. Described here is a technique for the generation of stem-cell derived organoids for human small intestine and lung together with methods to infect such organoids with a mock pathogen (Cryptosporidium parvum). Such systems are amenable to imaging and processing for molecular biological analyses. It is the intent of this chapter to provide a simple, routine organoid procedure so that in vitro studies with Borrelia such as cell invasion and dissemination can be conducted.

The power of phages: revolutionizing cancer treatment

Cancer is a devastating disease with a high global mortality rate and is projected to increase further in the coming years. Current treatment options, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, have limitations including side effects, variable effectiveness, high costs, and limited availability. There is a growing need for alternative treatments that can target cancer cells specifically with fewer side effects. Phages, that infect bacteria but not eukaryotic cells, have emerged as promising cancer therapeutics due to their unique properties, including specificity and ease of genetic modification. Engineered phages can transform cancer treatment by targeting cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. Phages exhibit versatility as nanocarriers, capable of delivering therapeutic agents like gene therapy, immunotherapy, and vaccines. Phages are extensively used in vaccine development, with filamentous, tailed, and icosahedral phages explored for different antigen expression possibilities. Engineered filamentous phages bring benefits such as built in adjuvant properties, cost-effectiveness, versatility in multivalent formulations, feasibility of oral administration, and stability. Phage-based vaccines stimulate the innate immune system by engaging pattern recognition receptors on antigen-presenting cells, enhancing phage peptide antigen presentation to B-cells and T-cells. This review presents recent phage therapy advances and challenges in cancer therapy, exploring its versatile tools and vaccine potential.

Phages in vaccine design and immunity; mechanisms and mysteries

Bacteriophages have attracted extensive interest in vaccine design. This includes the use of phage display technology to select antigens, the use of engineered phages displaying target antigens in vaccine formulations, and phage DNA vaccines. However, the development of these approaches is limited in part by uncertainty regarding the underlying mechanisms by which phages elicit immunity. This has stymied the clinical development of this technology. Here we review the immunology of phage vaccines and highlight the gaps in our knowledge regarding the underlying mechanisms. First, we review the basic biology of phages and their use in vaccines. Next we discuss what is known about the mechanisms of immunity against engineered phages and phage DNA. Finally, we highlight the gaps in our understanding regarding the immunogenicity of these preparations. We argue that mechanistic insight into the immunology of phage vaccines is essential for the further development and clinical utility of these technologies.

Comparison of motif-based and whole-unique-sequence-based analyses of phage display library datasets generated by biopanning of anti-Borrelia burgdorferi immune sera

Detection of protection-associated epitopes via reverse vaccinology is the first step for development of subunit vaccines against microbial pathogens. Mapping subunit vaccine targets requires high throughput methods, which would allow delineation of epitopes recognized by protective antibodies on a large scale. Phage displayed random peptide library coupled to Next Generation Sequencing (PDRPL/NGS) is the universal platform that enables high-yield identification of peptides that mimic epitopes (mimotopes). Despite being unsurpassed as a tool for discovery of polyclonal serum mimotopes, the PDRPL/NGS is far inferior as a quantitative method of immune response. Difficult-to-control fluctuations in amounts of antibody-bound phages after rounds of selection and amplification diminish the quantitative capacity of the PDRPL/NGS. In an attempt to improve the accuracy of the PDRPL/NGS method, we compared the discriminating capacity of two approaches for PDRPL/NGS data analysis. The whole-unique-sequence-based analysis (WUSA) involved generation of 7-mer peptide profiles and comparison of the numbers of sequencing reads for unique peptide sequences between serum samples. The motif-based analysis (MA) included identification of 4-mer consensus motifs unifying unique 7-mer sequences and comparison of motifs between serum samples. The motif comparison was based not on the numbers of sequencing reads, but on the numbers of distinct 7-mers constituting the motifs. Our PDRPL/NGS datasets generated from biopanning of protective and non-protective anti-Borrelia burgdorferi sera of New Zealand rabbits were used to contrast the two approaches. As a result, the principle component analyses (PCA) showed that the discriminating powers of the WUSA and MA were similar. In contrast, the unsupervised hierarchical clustering obtained via the MA classified the preimmune, non-protective, and protective sera better than the WUSA-based clustering. Also, a total number of discriminating motifs was higher than that of discriminating 7-mers. In sum, our results indicate that MA approach improves the accuracy and quantitative capacity of the PDRPL/NGS method.