Common Oral Medications Lead to Prophage Induction in Bacterial Isolates from the Human Gut

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Virology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Prophages, integrated bacteriophages within bacterial genomes, replicate passively with their host.
• Environmental triggers can induce prophages, leading to lytic replication, new phage production, and bacterial lysis.
• The inducers of prophages in the abundant gut microbiome remain largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential of common medications to induce prophages in human gut bacteria.
• To assess the antimicrobial activity of various medication classes against gut bacterial isolates.
• To determine if medication-induced growth inhibition correlates with prophage induction.

Main Methods:

• In vitro testing of five medication classes (NSAIDs, chemotherapy, analgesics, cardiac drugs, antibiotics) against eight prophage-carrying human gut bacterial isolates.
• Assessing antimicrobial activity through growth inhibition measurements.
• Confirming prophage induction in bacterial treatments.

Main Results:

• Seven of eight bacterial isolates exhibited growth inhibition by at least one medication.
• All tested medication classes demonstrated antimicrobial activity against at least one isolate.
• Prophage induction occurred in half of the treatments showing antimicrobial activity, with host-targeted drugs inducing specific species like *Clostridium beijerinckii* and *Bacteroides caccae*.

Conclusions:

• Commonly consumed medications can induce prophages in human gut bacteria.
• Medication-induced prophage activation represents a phage-mediated effect with potential to alter the gut microbiome.
• Host-targeted medications show species-specific prophage induction patterns, distinct from antibiotics.