Title:Bacteriophage - A Common Divergent Therapeutic Approach for Alzheimer's Disease and Type II Diabetes Mellitus
Volume: 13
Issue: 3
Author(s): Sayed S. Sohrab, Sajjad Karim, Mohammad A. Kamal, Adel M. Abuzenadah, Adeel G. Chaudhary, Mohammed H. Al-Qahtani and Zeenat Mirza
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease, bacteriophage therapy, immunomodulator, vatches.
Abstract: Alzheimer's disease, the most important neurodegenerative disorder, is an irreversible, age-dependent disease
of the brain characterized by problems in progressive impairments in memory, language, reasoning, behavior and
visuospatial skills. It is characterized by the deposition of amyloid beta peptide, forming compact fibrillar plaques and
neurofibrillary tau tangles. Another major and much more prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality in world is diabetes
especially type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is caused by a combination of resistance to insulin action and an inadequate
compensatory insulin secretory response. Chronic wounds caused by antibiotic resistant bacterial infections that fail to
heal are a common complication of diabetes mellitus and the most frequent reason for nontraumatic lower limb
amputation. Holistically, these two diseases are linked at molecular level but the exact mechanism is a topic of debate.
Bacteriophages are viruses infecting bacteria and lack ability to infect mammalian cells. They are neither causative agent
for Alzheimer's disease or type 2 diabetes mellitus nor involved in their pathogenicity but promises for a novel divergent
therapeutic approach. The great versatility of the phage system has led to the development of improved phage delivery
vectors, as well as immunomodulation of anti-amyloid beta peptide response. Phages could also constitute valuable
prophylaxis against bacterial infections, especially in immunocompromised patients like in the case of diabetes. Patients
having diabetes have a high risk of developing foot ulcers which are difficult to be treated by antibiotics alone due to ever
increasing antibiotic resistance strains. Combination therapy based on multiple phage and broad spectrum antibiotics
holds great promise. The potential therapeutic phage therapy arises from its lack of natural tropism for mammalian cells,
resulting in no adverse effects.