By ,
Published July 21, 2016
In a new way to inject drugs, researchers say today they can make bacteria that deliver regular doses of an anticancer toxin deep inside a tumor, usually beyond the reach of conventional chemotherapy. In animal experiments of interest to pharmaceutical companies, the researchers report today in the journal Nature that their genetically engineered bugs can shrink a tumor by directly delivering repeated, synchronized doses of an anti-tumor toxin.
To modulate the drug dose, the researchers engineered the anticancer microbes to grow or self-destruct based on the rise or fall of their overall population, through a technique called quorum sensing.
The bioengineered bacteria burst open in unison to release the toxin. Not all of them die. The survivors grow and seed the next round of attack.
Click for more from the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/bioengineered-bacteria-burst-into-synchrony-to-release-anticancer-drugs