Difference between revisions of "Team:ETH Zurich/Background"

Revision as of 13:47, 15 September 2017

BACKGROUND

There are numerous approaches to treating cancer and in general, they can be divided into two main groups - local and systemic treatment options. Local treatment options include surgery and radiation therapy, while systemic options refer to chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy [1]. Typically, the patient will receive a combination of different treatments extended over several weeks to months. To find out more about each of these treatments, please click on the buttons below.

Surgery

Some of the therapeutic options mentioned above are well established and have been used for decades, while others represent pioneering treatments developed thanks to advances in biological engineering. However, as seen from the list of pros and cons, no strategy is perfect. Therefore, complete removal of cancer without inflicting damage on the healthy tissue remains a challenge [2].

To tackle this problem, we decided to look beyond these classical approaches and from the point of view of a synthetic biologist. Our search led us to the concept of bacterial cell therapy - a strategy for treating cancer that actually dates back to the beginning of the 20th century but has since changed significantly. In the beginnings, different species of unmodified bacteria were given intravenously to cancer patients and were shown to accumulate preferentially in the tumorous tissue. This attractive inherent feature has been investigated since and is thought to be due to a combination of mechanisms, including entrapment of bacteria in the chaotic vasculature of the tumor, production of chemotactic agents in the tumor microenvironment and protection from the immune system that the microenvironment, as an immuno-privileged site, offers. Although native cytotoxicity of the bacteria was shown to inhibit tumor growth, simply administering unchanged bacteria intravenously has been connected to severe side effects. To overcome this, engineering efforts have been made and different modifications have been implemented and are currently being tested in clinical trials. However, full potential of bacteria as an anti-cancer agent has not yet been fulfilled [3]. To find out how we envisioned to take advantage of what bacterial cancer therapy potentially offers, go to our project description (LINK). [1] "Types of cancer treatment." cancer.gov. National Cancer Institute, 6 Apr. 2017. Web. 30 May 2017. [2] Miller, Kimberly D., et al. "Cancer treatment and survivorship statistics, 2016." CA: a cancer journal for clinicians 66.4 (2016): 271-289. [3] Forbes, Neil S. "Engineering the perfect (bacterial) cancer therapy." Nature reviews. Cancer 10.11 (2010): 785.

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 <h2>BACKGROUND</h2>
-There are numerous approaches to treating cancer and in general, they can be divided into two main groups - local and systemic treatment options. Local treatment options include surgery and radiation therapy, while systemic options refer to chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy [1]. Typically, the patient will receive a combination of different treatments extended over several weeks to months. To find out more about each of these treatments, please click on the buttons below.
+<p>There are numerous approaches to treating cancer and in general, they can be divided into two main groups - local and systemic treatment options. Local treatment options include surgery and radiation therapy, while systemic options refer to chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy [1]. Typically, the patient will receive a combination of different treatments extended over several weeks to months. To find out more about each of these treatments, please click on the buttons below.</p>
 Surgery
-Some of the therapeutic options mentioned above are well established and have been used for decades, while others represent pioneering treatments developed thanks to advances in biological engineering. However, as seen from the list of pros and cons, no strategy is perfect. Therefore, complete removal of cancer without inflicting damage on the healthy tissue remains a challenge [2].
+<p>Some of the therapeutic options mentioned above are well established and have been used for decades, while others represent pioneering treatments developed thanks to advances in biological engineering. However, as seen from the list of pros and cons, no strategy is perfect. Therefore, complete removal of cancer without inflicting damage on the healthy tissue remains a challenge [2]. </p>
 To tackle this problem, we decided to look beyond these classical approaches and from the point of view of a synthetic biologist. Our search led us to the concept of bacterial cell therapy - a strategy for treating cancer that actually dates back to the beginning of the 20th century but has since changed significantly. In the beginnings, different species of unmodified bacteria were given intravenously to cancer patients and were shown to accumulate preferentially in the tumorous tissue. This attractive inherent feature has been investigated since and is thought to be due to a combination of mechanisms, including entrapment of bacteria in the chaotic vasculature of the tumor, production of chemotactic agents in the tumor microenvironment and protection from the immune system that the microenvironment, as an immuno-privileged site, offers.