Bacterial ‘suicide squads’ engineered to find tumours and alert body’s immune system

The bacteria being used by the team is a probiotic strain of the bacterium E. coli, which the researchers engineered to undergo “lysis” — that is, break apart — on reaching a certain concentration, releasing its internal cargo.

In their previous work, for example, the team experimented with adding genes to the microbes such that they produce and release proteins that inhibit the growth of tumour cells.

However, Prof. Arpaia said: “My graduate student, Thomas [Savage], had the idea of potentially utilising this platform to deliver chemokines.”

Chemokines are signalling proteins for the immune system, and are capable of attracting different types of immune cells and stimulating them to respond in various ways.

READ MORE: Woman, 30, hit with cancer after spotting warning sign on her tongue

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1744291/cancer-bacterial-suicide-squad-find-tumours-alert-body-immune-system