Treatment of in vitro enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection using phage and probiotics

Abstract

Alternative therapies to antibiotics are receiving increased attention, mainly due to the proliferation of multi-resistant pathogens. Antibiotics have had poor outcomes in the treatment of bacterial infections such as with EHEC.Aims: The combination of phage and probiotics against EHEC was assayed in vitro on infected Hep-2 cells. Methods and results: Phage and probiotics treatments on EHEC O157:H7 infected Hep-2 cells were assayed individually or combined. The effect of freeze-drying on phage and probiotics antimicrobial activity was also studied. While treatment with phage alone increased cells detachment caused by EHEC infection, the treatments with MM alone or in combination with phage proved to effectively diminish cell damage caused by EHEC infection. Combined treatment showed a decrease in apoptotic cells count of 57.3% and a reduction in EHEC adhesion to cell monolayer of 1.2 log CFU. The simultaneous use of phage and probiotics showed no antagonistic effect, and freeze-drying did not affect their antipathogenic activity.Conclusions: The combination of phage and probiotics has great potential for reducing the number of pathogens adhered to epithelial cells during EHEC O157:H7 infection and attenuating the cytotoxic effect derived from it. Further in vivo assays are needed for assessing the actual effectiveness of the treatment.Significance and Impact of Study: This study presents a freeze-dried formulation of phage and probiotics capable of controlling EHEC infections and reducing epithelial cell damage in vitro.