The present invention relates to the discovery, identification and
characterization of toxic agents which are lethal to pathogens and
methods for targeting such toxic agents to a pathogen or pathogen
infected cells in order to treat and/or eradicate the infection. In
particular, the present invention relates to toxic agents which target
bacteria at different stages of the bacterial life cycle, which are
delivered alone or in combination to bacteria or bacteria-infected cells.
The invention relates to toxic agents which are lethal to diseased cells
and methods for targeting such toxic agents to a diseased cell in order
to treat and/or eradicate the disease. The present invention relates to
promoter elements which are pathogen-specific or tissue-specific and the
use of such promoter elements to achieve pathogen-specific or
tissue-specific expression of the toxic agent(s) and/or ribozyme(s) of
the present invention. Specifically, the invention relates to the
delivery of one or more toxic gene products, antisense RNAs, or
ribozymes, or combination thereof. The invention provides a novel system
by which multiple pathogenic targets may be simultaneously targeted to
cause the death of a pathogen, or cell infected with a pathogen. Further,
the invention has important implications in the eradication of
drug-resistant bacterium and bacterial pathogens. The invention provides
a novel system by which multiple targets may be simultaneously targeted
to cause the death of a diseased cell. The invention has important
implications in the eradication of drug-resistant pathogens (such as
antibiotic resistant bacteria) and drug-resistant diseased cells (such as
drug-resistant cancer cells).