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

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         <figcaption>Figure 1. Features of ideal bacterial cancer therapeutic as implemented into our design. <span class="bacterium">E. coli</span> Nissle inherently finds and colonizes tumors. Once in this special surrounding, it is designed to recognize the environment (1. Environment Sensing), produce an MRI contrast agent (2. External Detectabilty) and accummulate a cytotoxic agent it will later deliver. After confirmation of the correct colonization done by a physician, an external signal is sent via focused ultrasound (3. Response to an External Signal). This leads to selective delivery of the cytotoxic agent to the tumor (4. Selective Cytotoxicity). </figcaption>
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         <figcaption>Figure 1. Features of ideal bacterial cancer therapeutic as implemented into our design. <span class="bacterium">E. coli</span> Nissle inherently finds and colonizes tumors. Once in this special surrounding, it is designed to recognize the environment (1. Environmental sensing), produce an MRI contrast agent (2. External detectabilty) and accummulate a cytotoxic agent it will later deliver. After confirmation of the correct colonization done by a physician, an external signal is sent via focused ultrasound (3. Response to external signal). This leads to selective delivery of the cytotoxic agent to the tumor (4. Selective cytotoxicity). </figcaption>
 
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Revision as of 16:46, 29 October 2017

Description

Introduction

The ideal bacterial cancer therapeutic should be:

  • a tiny programmable robot factory that specifically targets tumors,
  • selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells,
  • self-propelled,
  • responsive to external signals,
  • able to sense the local environment and finally,
  • externally detectable. [1]

CATE, the cancer-targeting E. coli that we have engineered, represents our vision of the ideal bacterial cancer therapeutic. With the combination of autonomous targeting, visualization and externally controlled toxin release, we believe our project provides a novel non-invasive, quick and safe approach to treating cancer (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Features of ideal bacterial cancer therapeutic as implemented into our design. E. coli Nissle inherently finds and colonizes tumors. Once in this special surrounding, it is designed to recognize the environment (1. Environmental sensing), produce an MRI contrast agent (2. External detectabilty) and accummulate a cytotoxic agent it will later deliver. After confirmation of the correct colonization done by a physician, an external signal is sent via focused ultrasound (3. Response to external signal). This leads to selective delivery of the cytotoxic agent to the tumor (4. Selective cytotoxicity).

We decided to work with the probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917, due to its inherent tumor targeting capabilities and lack of pathogenicity, which make it the ideal chassis for development of precisely controllable features that we decided to integrate into the therapeutic. [2][3]

References

  1. Forbes, Neil S. "Engineering the perfect (bacterial) cancer therapy." Nature reviews. Cancer 10.11 (2010): 785. doi: 10.1038/nrc2934
  2. Stritzker, Jochen, et al. "Tumor-specific colonization, tissue distribution, and gene induction by probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 in live mice." International journal of medical microbiology 297.3 (2007): 151-162. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2007.01.008
  3. Felgner, Sebastian, et al. "Bacteria in cancer therapy: renaissance of an old concept." International journal of microbiology (2016). doi: 10.1155/2016/8451728