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Targeted filamentous bacteriophages as therapeutic agents.

Bacteriophages (phages) have been used for therapy of bacterial infections, for genetic research, as tools for the discovery of specific target binding proteins and for vaccine development. The aim of this article is to present advances in genetic and chemical engineering of filamentous bacteriophages that facilitated their application for therapeutic purposes. We review studies where phages were applied for in vivo imaging, as gene delivery vehicles and as drug carriers. Target specificity is based on peptides or proteins displayed on the phage coat. The cargo may be a packaged gene incorporated into the phage genome for gene delivery applications, or imaging agents or cytotoxic drugs chemically conjugated at high density onto the phage coat. We believe that the combination of those separately developed methodologies would result in clinical applications of phage-based therapeutics.