Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39905205›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2025

Urinary bacteriophage cooperation with bacterial pathogens during human urinary tract infections supports lysogenic phage therapy.

Mahmood Almosuli, Anna Kirtava, Archil Chkhotua, Lia Tsveniashvili, Nina Chanishvili, Sumaiya Safia Irfan, Emily Ng, Hope McIntyre, Adam J Hockenberry, Robyn P Araujo and 5 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Prophage: agent provocateur?Archives of microbiology · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Mahmood AlmosuliGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA.
Anna KirtavaIConsilium Second Medical Opinion, New York City, New York, NY, USA.
Archil ChkhotuaThe University of Georgia, Tblisi, Georgia.
Lia TsveniashviliIConsilium Second Medical Opinion, New York City, New York, NY, USA.
Nina ChanishviliEliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology & Virology, Tblisi, Georgia.
Sumaiya Safia IrfanGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA.
Emily NgGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA.
Hope McIntyreLyme Hope, LLC, Mount Airy, MD, USA.
Adam J HockenberryTempus Labs, Austin, TX, USA.
Robyn P AraujoThe University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Weidong ZhouGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA.
Ngoc VuongGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA.
Barbara BirkayaGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA.
Lance LiottaGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA.
Alessandra LuchiniGeorge Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA. aluchini@gmu.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1599-0214

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Despite much promise in overcoming drug-resistant infections, clinical studies of bacteriophage antibacterial therapy have failed to show durable effectiveness. Although lysogeny plays an important role in bacterial physiology, its significance in diverse microbiomes remains unclear. Here, we tested the following hypotheses: 1) urinary microbiome phage populations switch to a higher relative proportion of temperate phages, and 2) the activity of the phage recombination machinery (integration/excision/transposition) is higher during human urinary tract infections (UTIs) than in non-infected urinary tracts. Using human urine, model organisms, mass spectrometry, gene expression analysis, and the phage phenotype prediction model BACPHLIP, the results corroborated our hypotheses at the functional protein and gene levels. From a human health perspective, these data suggest that temperate phages may facilitate bacterial infections rather than function as protective agents. These findings support the use of lysogenic phages as therapeutic Trojan Horses.

Indexed as

BacteriophagesLysogenyPhage TherapyUrinary Tract InfectionsHumansMicrobiota

Identifiers

PMID39905205
PMCPMC11794546

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.