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by PLOS
March 21, 2026
from
ScienceDaily Website
Information sent by MJGdeA
Engineered bacteria were able to
find tumors in mice
and release
cancer drugs directly inside them.
This “living
therapy” could open a new path
for more
precise cancer treatment.
Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com
Scientists turned bacteria
into
tumor-seeking drug factories
that fight
cancer from within...
Summary
Scientists have engineered probiotic bacteria to act as
tumor-seeking drug factories.
In mice,
these bacteria infiltrated tumors and produced a
cancer-fighting drug right where it was needed.
This
targeted approach could make treatments more effective and
reduce side effects.
More
research is needed before it can be tested in people.
Cancer affects millions of people worldwide each
year, and treating it remains difficult because of how complex the
disease can be.
New findings (Engineered
romidepsin Biosynthetic pathways in Escherichia coli Nissle 1917
improve the efficacy of bacteria-mediated Cancer Therapy)
published March 17th in the open-access journal PLOS
Biology by Tianyu Jiang of Shandong University in Qingdao,
China, and colleagues highlight a possible new strategy.
The researchers show that
Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN)
can be modified to carry anticancer compounds and target tumors in
mice.
Bacteria naturally live in the human body and influence both
health and disease.
Scientists are exploring whether these microbes
can be redesigned to fight cancer, although their effectiveness as
treatments is still uncertain.
To test this idea, the team engineered the probiotic strain
Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) so it could produce
Romidepsin (FK228), an FDA-approved
drug with anticancer properties.
Through
genetic and genomic
engineering, they developed a version of the bacteria capable of
generating this drug.
They then created a mouse model by
introducing breast cancer tumor cells and treated the mice with
the modified bacteria.
Tumor Colonization and Targeted
Drug Release
The experiments showed that EcN was able to accumulate inside tumors
and release Romidepsin FK228 in both laboratory and live animal
settings under different conditions.
This allowed the bacteria to function as a
targeted treatment, delivering the drug directly to tumor
sites...
Even so, more research is needed.
The approach has not yet been tested in humans,
and future studies will need to examine possible side effects as
well as strategies for safely removing the bacteria after treatment.
These factors could influence how useful
engineered EcN becomes as a cancer therapy.
A Dual-Action Cancer Therapy
Strategy
According to the authors,
"The probiotic strain Escherichia coli Nissle
1917 (EcN), a potential member of tumor-targeting bacteria,
shows great promise for cancer treatment.
By leveraging engineered EcN, we can design a
bacteria-assisted, tumor-targeted therapy for the biosynthesis
and targeted delivery of small-molecule anticancer agents.
Our mouse-model study establishes a solid
foundation for engineering bacteria which are capable of
producing small-molecule anticancer drugs and engaged in
bacteria-assisted tumor-targeted therapy, paving the way for
future advancements in this field."
The authors add,
"Escherichia coli Nissle 1917's tumor
colonization synergizes with Romidepsin's anticancer activity to
form a dual-action cancer therapy."
Story Source
Chenghao Ma, Geng Li, Tao Sun, Ximi
Tang, Tong Qiu, Jingwen Song, Hailong Wang, Youming
Zhang, Tianyu Jiang -
Engineered romidepsin Biosynthetic
pathways in Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 improve the
efficacy of bacteria-mediated Cancer Therapy
- PLOS Biology, 2026; 24 (3): e3003657 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pbio.3003657
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