ArticlePloS one2017
Synergy and Order Effects of Antibiotics and Phages in Killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 223 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
223 citing papers in PubMed, 377 citations in OpenAlex.
- Harnessing phage-ciprofloxacin synergy to overcome multidrug-resistant infections and biofilm persistence.Archives of microbiology · 2026Article
- Research progress on nanomaterials in promoting phage function and application.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Review
- Prophage-Derived Molecules as Anti-Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Triple Threat: Elucidating Evolution Under Antibiotic, Metal, and Phage Pressure inEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Synergistic Effect of Bacteriophage vB_KpnS_Pey and Antibiotic Combinations against Clinical Carbapenem-ResistantInfection & chemotherapy · 2026Article
- Bacteriophage therapy for antimicrobial-resistant, biofilm‑associated diabetic foot infection: delivery routes, phage antibiotic synergy, and practical wound‑care integration.Archives of microbiology · 2026Review
- PMI TechNote: Bacteriophages-From the Petri Dish to Conquering the Nooks and Crannies of Difficult-to-Treat Infections.APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica · 2026Review
- Decoding phage communication: molecular networks, evolutionary dynamics, and therapeutic applications.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- Bacteriophage therapy for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections: recent advances, clinical evidence, and translational challenges.Archives of microbiology · 2026Review
- Phage-antibiotic synergy restores β-lactam efficacy in MDR Klebsiella quasipneumoniae biofilms and suppresses resistance.Journal of biomedical science · 2026Article
- Review
- Nanoengineered γ MnOLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Modeling the Phage Properties Best for Therapy.Viruses · 2026Article
- Impact ofAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2026Article
- Next-generation bacteriophage therapeutic systems: CRISPR-based engineering, near-infrared bioimaging, and precision strategies for treating multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant bacterial infections.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Phage-quinolone synergy: mechanisms, clinical strategies, and translational prospects.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Modeling the phage properties best for therapy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Synergy between ciprofloxacin and temperate phages overcomes therapeutic limitations caused by lysogen formation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Temperate bacteriophage induced inBiofilm · 2025Article
- Bacteriophages and Their Enzymes: Allies Against Microbial Biofilms.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
163 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In contrast to planktonic cells, bacteria imbedded biofilms are notoriously refractory to treatment by antibiotics or bacteriophage (phage) used alone. Given that the mechanisms of killing differ profoundly between drugs and phages, an obvious question is whether killing is improved by combining antibiotic and phage therapy. However, this question has only recently begun to be explored. Here, in vitro biofilm populations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 were treated singly and with combinations of two phages and bactericidal antibiotics of five classes. By themselves, phages and drugs commonly had only modest effects in killing the bacteria. However some phage-drug combinations reduced bacterial densities to well below that of the best single treatment; in some cases, bacterial densities were reduced even below the level expected if both agents killed independently of each other (synergy). Furthermore, there was a profound order effect in some cases: treatment with phages before drugs achieved maximum killing. Combined treatment was particularly effective in killing in Pseudomonas biofilms grown on layers of cultured epithelial cells. Phages were also capable of limiting the extent to which minority populations of bacteria resistant to the treating antibiotic ascend. The potential of combined antibiotic and phage treatment of biofilm infections is discussed as a realistic way to evaluate and establish the use of bacteriophage for the treatment of humans.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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 OpenQuestion graph.