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Instead, the researchers identified a cell-destroying toxin called cytolysin produced by select strains of E. faecalis as the likely reason that some patients with alcoholic liver disease had severe symptoms.

The response to cytolysin was the same whether or not the mice had received a high-alcohol diet.

When mice that harbored the deadly bacteria were treated with the phages, they had less liver injury, less inflammation, and less cytolysin in their livers than animals treated with control phages.

To understand the disease-causing mechanisms, the authors isolated liver cells from the animals, and found that cell death in response to cytolysin exposure was dose-dependent.