ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Biotecnologica 2020 June;32(2):39-42

DOI: 10.23736/S1120-4826.19.02600-4

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Urinary bacteriophages in pediatric urinary tract infections

Ilaria GALLIANO ¹, Silvia NICOLI ², Valentina DAPRÀ ^{1, 3}, Elena ZANIOL ¹, Rebecca FILOMENA ¹, Cristina CALVI ¹, Carla ALLIAUDI ¹, Paola MONTANARI ¹, Francesco SAVINO ², Massimiliano BERGALLO ^{1, 3} ✉

¹ Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, Medical School, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; ² Department of Pediatrics, Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital, Città della Salute e della Scienza, Turin, Italy; ³ BioMole srl, Turin, Italy

BACKGROUND: Bacteriophages are a long-overlooked component of the virobiota that have the potential to shape mammalian immunity. The aim of our study was to identify a bacteriophages communities in urinary tract infections (UTIs).
METHODS: We sampled the urine from 151 children having urinary tract infections, and 49 healthy controls. We decide to investigate at least one of the member of Caudovirales and Microviridae by real time PCR on urine.
RESULTS: We demonstrate that bacteriophage φV10 was more abundant in UTIs than in healthy subjects (P<0.004) and at the contrary, bacteriophage φFL4A was more abundant in healthy subjects that in UTI samples.
CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated in UTIs an abundance of bacteriophage φV10. Further studies will be necessary to understand how resident prokaryotic phages and eukaryotic viruses shape commensal bacterial communities.

KEY WORDS: Bacteriophages; Real-time polymerase chain reaction; Urinary tract infections; Pediatrics