Bacteria: The Future of Fighting Cancer
The therapeutic role of bacteria in fighting cancer is not a novel concept. Beginning in the 19th century, William Coley used bacterial toxins to treat patients with soft-tissue cancers.
Despite the relative success, the high risk of uncontrollable infections and the lack of antibiotics at the time forced scientists to move away from this method. Now, with new technological advancements which combine innate properties of bacteria with synthetic biology, scientists have regained enthusiasm for bacteria as the future for treating cancer.
Some bacteria possess properties that make them a natural therapeutic choice for fighting cancer.
Bacteria stimulate the patient’s immune system, allowing the immune system to prepare to ward off cancer cells. In addition, bacteria has the ability to selectively grow within solid tumors, providing them with protection from the tumor’s defense. The bacteria then reproduce within the tumor, ultimately competing with the tumor for nutrients.
This production and competition between the two ultimately leads to immune cell infiltration, causing an anti-cancer response by the body. To date, these properties have proven most successful in combating bladder cancer. More testing is needed to increase the efficacy with other types of cancer.
Scientists have begun to implement nanotechnology in order to further augment the natural ability of bacteria to treat cancer.
Nanotechnology, or technology on a molecular level, allows scientists to have more control over a bacteria’s actions.
For example, Columbia University microbiologists and immunologists used nanotechnology to mutate bacteria in order to produce molecules that block immune checkpoints. This mutation allowed the body to become familiar with the cancer and prepare t-cells for future confrontations.
With nanotechnology, scientists can genetically engineer bacteria so that they may serve as a carrier for recombinant payloads which include anticancer toxins, cytokines, and cell-killing chemicals.
Selective targeting of cancer cells will limit the harmful side effects caused by other treatment methods. Scientists have begun to develop ways to control the movements of bacteria.
Synthetic biologists have worked on creating genetic circuits, using positive and negative feedback loops in order to control the movements of bacteria and to limit the inaccuracy of bacterial navigation.
While bacteria is currently used as a diagnostic marker for certain cancers, its combination with
nanotechnology to treat cancer has given scientists a reason to expand bacteria’s role in the medical world.
Biomedical companies are currently conducting clinical trials in order to assess its efficacy. Trials have included rats, dogs and the first human patients, with one trial concluding that the treatment showed “precise, robust, and reproducible antitumor responses” (Roberts et al).
Although early results have been encouraging, everyday use of nanotechnology and bacteria is still under development. Nevertheless, this technology shows promise for bacteria to be instrumental in the future of cancer therapy.
My Experience With Coronavirus
Why did Coronavirus Spread so Fast?
Coronavirus and Globalization Moving Forward
Disinfecting Surfaces Against Coronavirus
Contagion Risks from Coronavirus
Coronavirus Oxygen Supplementation 101
Coronavirus: The Global Economic Impact
Coronavirus Causes Long Term Problems?
Online Coronavirus Scams Proliferate
What Is The True Coronavirus Case Fatality Rate For Young People?
How Likely Are Young People to be Hospitalized With Coronavirus?
Living On The Edge of A New Society
Coronavirus Will Test the Limits of Our Hospitals
Coronavirus Catapults Global Testing Innovation
Spain Suffers Under Coronavirus
Data, Models & Misinformation on the Coronavirus
Coronavirus Travels the Silk Road
Coronavirus Attacks Italy's Sick and Elderly
Is the New Coronavirus Drug a Cure?
What is the Mystery of Germany's Low Coronavirus Fatality Rate?
The World Will Be More Technologically Advanced After the COVID-19 Pandemic
Why has the Coronavirus Not Exploded in Japan?
Italy's Coronavirus Death Rate is Falling
Coronavirus Speeds Up Robotic Revolution
Economic Depression Will Destroy More Lives Than Coronavirus
Can Hydroxychloroquine be Used to Treat Coronavirus?
Northern Italy & Wuhan: Partners for Better or Worse
The Race for the Coronavirus Cure
How Did Taiwan Manage the Coronavirus so Well?
What is the US Coronavirus Fatality Rate?
Travel Ban Saves Airlines Billions
Deep Learning Detects Coronavirus
Singapore's Coronavirus Patients Have a 0% Mortality Rate So Far... Why?
AI is Mapping the Coronavirus and Inferring its Possible Economic Impact
Coronavirus: Fact from Fiction
Death From Covid-19 is Not From the Coronavirus:
An Interview With NYU Langone Health Professor & Rheumatologist Dr. Gary Solomon
Coronavirus Attacks Italy's Sick and Elderly
Interview with NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly: An American Hero
Why Choose Machine Learning Investing Over A Traditional Financial Advisor?
Interview With Home Depot Co-Founder Ken Langone
Interview with the Inventor of Amazon's Alexa
Automation and the Rebirth of American Retail
China Debuts Stealth Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
Sweden's Economy Embraces AI & Automation
Austria's Automated Ai & Robotic Future Is Now
Nuclear Submarines: A 7,000 Lb Swiss Watch
Ai Can Write Its Own Computer Program
On Black Holes: Gateway to Another Dimension, or Ghosts of Stars’ Pasts?
Egypt's Artificial Intelligence Future
Supersonic Travel: The Future of Aviation
Shedding Light on Dark Matter: Using Machine Learning to Unravel Physics’ Hardest Questions
When High-Tech Meets Low-Tech Economy: Ai & the Construction Industry
Aquaponics: How Advanced Technology Grows Vegetables In The Desert
The World Cup Does Not Have a Lasting Positive Impact on Hosting Countries
Artificial Intelligence is Transforming the Forex Market
Do Machines Dream? Inside the Dreams of a Machine
Can Ai Replace Human Ski Coaches?
Faster than Sound and Undetectable by Radar
The Implications of Machine Learning on Condensed Matter Physics & Quantum Computing
Crafting Eco-Sustainability: WTC and Environmental Sustainability
Argentina's AI Future: Reversing a Century of Decline
Tennis & Artificial Intelligence
Peru's Ai Future Will Drive Economic Growth
The Colombian Approach to the AI Revolution
How AI Can Explain Its Thinking
Brazil & Artificial Intelligence
Written by Zach Ostrow & Edited by Michael Ding & Alexander Fleiss