The Innate Sense of Bacteriophages

Perturbation of the gut microbiota is associated with inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and even cancer. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Gogokhia et al. 2019 Gogokhia L. Buhrke K. Bell R. Hoffman B. Brown D.G. Hanke-Gogokhia C. Ajami N.J. Wong M.C. Ghazaryan A. Valentine J.F. et al. Expansion of bacteriophages is linked to aggravated intestinal inflammation and colitis. Cell Host Microbe. 2019; 25 ( this issue) : 285-299 Google Scholar sought to kill cancer-causing bacteria with bacteriophages. However, the bacteriophages themselves directly stimulated an immune response, which worsened inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis