Information Phage Therapy Research Should Report

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses which infect bacteria. A large subset of phages infect bactericidally and, consequently, for nearly one hundred years have been employed as antibacterial agents both within and outside of medicine. Clinically these applications are described as phage or bacteriophage therapy. Alternatively, and especially in the treatment of environments, this practice instead may be described as a phage-mediated biocontrol of bacteria. Though the history of phage therapy has involved substantial clinical experimentation, current standards along with drug regulations have placed a premium on preclinical approaches, i.e., animal experiments. As such, it is important for preclinical experiments not only to be held to high standards but also to be reported in a manner which improves translation to clinical utility. Here I address this latter issue, that of optimization of reporting of preclinical as well as clinical experiments. I do this by providing a list of pertinent information and data which, in my opinion, phage therapy experiments ought to present in publications, along with tips for best practices. The goal is to improve the ability of readers to gain relevant information from reports on phage therapy research, to allow other researchers greater potential to repeat or extend findings, to ease transitions from preclinical to clinical development, and otherwise simply to improve phage therapy experiments. Targeted are not just authors but also reviewers, other critical readers, writers of commentaries, and, perhaps, formulators of guidelines or policy. Though emphasizing therapy, many points are applicable to phage-mediated biocontrol of bacteria more generally.