Poster Presentation 14th Australian Peptide Conference 2022

Antimicrobial peptide-phage synergy as alternatives to conventional antibiotics (#232)

Ramon Roca Pinilla 1 2 , Leszek Lisowski 2 3 4
  1. Children´s Medical Research Institute, Westmead, NSW, Australia
  2. Translational Vectorology Research Unit, Children´s Medical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW, Austràlia
  3. Vector and Genome Engineering Facility, Children´s Medical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW, Austràlia
  4. Military Institute of Medicine, Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and Innovative Therapies 04-141, Warsaw, Poland

The growing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens is a pressing global healthcare challenge. Bacteriophages (phages) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are two potential promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics that can be combined to expand our existing arsenal. Here, we have explored AMP-phage interactions by using optically based measurements. Our results provide a comprehensive analysis of how different antimicrobial peptides behave either alone or in combination with bacteriophages against several pathogenic bacteria, and how these compare with traditional antibiotics. We show that the interaction is dependent on the stoichiometry of the pair and the timing of the treatments. These results provide insight on how to best combine phages and AMPs as potential alternative therapies to traditional antibiotics.