Title

Phage Therapy in Clinical Practice

Description

With the global crisis of antibiotic resistance intensifying, phage therapy has emerged as a promising targeted antibacterial strategy and is now entering a critical phase of clinical translation.

This special issue focuses on core topics related to the clinical application of phage therapy, emphasizing advanced therapeutic uses and the mechanisms of phage‑host interactions in clinical settings. We aim to gather innovative achievements that bridge basic research and clinical practice, including personalized treatment regimens, formulation optimization, and the regulatory interplay between phages and their hosts during infection. By integrating multidisciplinary perspectives, this issue seeks to advance the standardization, scalability, and sustainable development of phage therapy, offering new solutions in the fight against drug‑resistant bacterial infections.

We warmly invite researchers and clinicians worldwide to contribute original research, reviews, and case studies to help propel this transformative field forward.

Keywords

· Phage therapy

· Clinical translation

· Drug-resistant bacteria

· Phage-host interaction

· Personalized medicine

· Phage preparation

· Antibacterial combination therapy

· Clinical infection

Topics

1. Advanced phage therapeutic applications

· Personalized phage cocktail therapy for drug-resistant bacterial infections

· Clinical application of phages in special scenarios (e.g., burn wounds, organ transplantation-related infections, chronic infections)

· Development, standardization, and quality control of phage preparations for clinical use

· Combination therapy of phages with antibiotics, immunotherapies, or other antibacterial agents

2. Phage-host interaction in clinics

· Mechanisms of phage colonization, metabolism, and clearance in the human body

· Synergistic antibacterial effects between host immunity and phages in clinical settings

· Clinical manifestations of bacterial anti-phage defense mechanisms and corresponding countermeasures

· Impact of host microbiome composition on phage therapeutic efficacy

Content types

Article, review，case report，resource，etc.

Deadline

September 30, 2026

Guest editors:

Tongyu Zhu

Professor

Shanghai Institute of Phage, Fudan University

Research area: Foundation and clinical application of renal transplantation and postoperative infection prevention and control

Email: zhutongyu@fudan.edu.cn

Yingfei Ma

Professor

Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences 

Research area: Synthetic microbiomics, phage pharmacokinetics and safety evaluation, high-throughput phage screening and engineering

Email: yf.ma@siat.ac.cn

Shuai Le

Professor

Army Medical University 

Research area: Phage synthetic biology and therapy, the mechanism of phage-host interaction, clinical trials for phage treatment of refractory and drug-resistant bacterial infections

Email: leshuai2004@tmmu.edu.cn

Yantao Liang

Professor

Ocean University of China

Research area: The biogeography and control mechanisms of marine viruses and their putative hosts, diversity and evolution of viruses, phage therapy and microbial-driven marine carbon sequestration

Email: liangyantao@ouc.edu.cn

Submission guidelines

Please submit your paper through our online submission system. All papers will be peer-reviewed. The submission deadline is September 31, 2026. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together. Research articles, review articles, letters, commentaries as well as perspectives are invited.

hLife adopts format-free submission. Format-free submission means that, provided you include everything necessary for review and using a consistent citation format, you can submit your paper without needing to worry about formatting your manuscript to meet hLife’s requirements.

Please state in the cover letter that your submission is for the special section of “Phage Therapy in Clinical Practice”. Article Publishing Charges (APCs) for accepted papers of hLife will be free before 2026.

Submission website

https://www.editorialmanager.com/hlife

期刊简介

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