Bacteria as a vehicle in cancer therapy and drug delivery

ABSTRACT

Although the conventional therapies have obviously improved the conditions of patients with cancer, some mechanisms of resistance have led scientists to use alternative agents that can penetrate in most solid tumors. Furthermore, the success of cancer therapies depends on limiting the uptake of toxins to normal tissues and their selectivity towards malignant cells. The involvement of natural and genetically modified non-pathogenic bacterial species, as potential antitumor agents, has led scientists to study bacteria and their products as an ideal vector for delivering therapeutic components to tumors. Moreover, bacterial ghosts, microbots and bactofection are the other strategies to destruct the malignant tissues. Although it has shown to achieve successful results in vivo, further investigations on the targeting mechanisms of the bacteria are needed to make it a complete therapeutic approach in cancer treatment