Potential applications of bacteriophages in medicine: medical imaging, targeted drug and gene delivery

Despite the progresses achieved in the treatment, detection and development of effective drugs for curing of diseases e.g. cancer, using of such therapeutics by patients is associated with severe side-effects. Since, most of them are not specific for cancerous cells; they may affect normal cells as well. So, targeted delivery of therapeutics is very important. Bacteriophages are a subtype of viral nanoparticles (VNPs) which can potentially deliver therapeutics to target cells/tissues, and this aspect of bacteriophage application has recently been considered by researchers. Plenty of studies show that not only bacteriophages have capacity for targeted delivering of imaging agents, drugs and genes into the cells/tissues but have appropriate profile of distribution in tissues and clearance from blood stream as well. Moreover, images obtained from different radioactive and optic imaging approaches have high-resolution in methods using bacteriophage because of their depth penetration into the tissues. Furthermore, bacteriophage-based approaches have more advantages such as safety and low cost. Regarding the plenty of advantages, it is expected that bacteriophages might be used as a suitable tool in diverse clinical trials in the near future. In the present study, the potential applications of bacteriophages are considered in medical imaging, targeted drug and gene delivery.