Antitumor Effect of Combined Treatment of Mice with Cytostatic Agents and Bacteriophage T4

The past few years have shown significant resurgent interest in the old concept of bacteriophage therapy. Some research groups continue to develop whole bacteriophage preparations as alternatives to antibiotic antibacterial treatment. However, improvements in the methods of purification of phage preparations open new opportunities in the successful treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. An open question remains on whether bacteriophage preparations (BP) can be safely applied in antibacterial treatment of patients suffering from infections as a consequence of immunosuppression caused by anticancer chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential modulating effect of bacteriophage T4 preparations administered to mice bearing s.c. or i.v. inoculated B16 melanoma and treated with conventional anticancer drugs, i.e. cyclophosphamide (CY), cisplatin (CPt) or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Treatment of mice with (BPT) T4 preparation slightly potentiated the antimetastatic effect of CY. Importantly, no combination of phage-cytostatic treatment resulted in a decrease in the antimetastatic or antitumour effects of an applied drug. This suggests the possibility of safe combination of bacteriophage preparations with popular antitumour drugs.