International journal of antimicrobial agents
October 7, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Advancing bacteriophage therapy through encapsulation: An evidence-based scoping review from animal trials.
Hossain I, Abraham S, Uddin JM
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
In animal studies encapsulated phages almost always worked, but the evidence is early and far from clinical use.
What was studied
A PRISMA-ScR scoping review of 56 in vivo animal studies of encapsulated bacteriophage therapy, searched across five databases.
Key findings
- Most research came from Asia, mainly India and China, and used alginate carriers and ionotropic gelation, mostly given orally in mice and chickens.
- Encapsulation gave high loading efficiency, better survival in simulated gastric fluid, and release in simulated intestinal fluid.
- Significant therapeutic outcomes were reported in 53 of 56 studies (94.6%).
Clinical relevance
Encapsulation could make oral phage therapy feasible for resistant gut infections, which is relevant given antimicrobial resistance. Clinicians should know it is still preclinical.
Who should care
Limitations
A scoping review does not assess study quality or bias, and the near-uniform positive results may reflect publication bias in small animals; the abstract gives no human data.
No practice change; this is a field to watch, and phage therapy requests should still go through specialist or trial channels.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The escalating threat of antimicrobial resistance has renewed interest in bacteriophage (phage) therapy, with encapsulation emerging as a promising strategy to enhance phage stability, bioavailability and targeted delivery.
OBJECTIVES
To comprehensively map and synthesize the available in vivo evidence on encapsulated phage therapy and identify translational gaps relevant to clinical advancement.
METHODS
Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we systematically searched Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Central, PubMed, MEDLINE (Ovid), and Scopus.
RESULTS
Across 56 included studies, research output was concentrated in Asia, particularly India and China. Ionotropic gelation and alginate-based carriers were the most frequently used encapsulation strategies. Oral/gavage administration was the predominant route of phage delivery, with mice and chickens representing the most frequently used animal models. Encapsulated phage demonstrated high encapsulation efficiency, improved survival in simulated gastric fluid, and efficient release in simulated intestinal fluid, with significant therapeutic outcomes reported in 94.6% (53/56) of in vivo studies.
CONCLUSION
Encapsulated phage therapy shows promising preclinical efficacy, but translational gaps remain. Future research should prioritize large-animal models, long-term studies, and standardized, scalable encapsulation approaches to support clinical translation and regulatory advancement.
DOI
10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2026.108032
PMID
42843572
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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