short circulating phage

A new phage pharmacokinetics paper by Katarzyna Hodyra-Stefaniak and colleagues in Krystyna Dabrowska's group at the Polish Academy of Sciences has demonstrated a "short-circulating phage" phenotype that has implications for engineered phage therapy. Contrary to expectations, T4 phages engineered to display tissue-homing peptides (including lung, prostate, and brain-targeting peptides) were cleared more rapidly from mice (likely via complement) compared to unmodified T4.