Engineered to injection.

This basic science work evaluates the murine efficacy of non-pathogenic E. coli strains engineered in a lab to deliver oncologic therapies. These next generation E. coli are designed to break apart within settings specific to malignant cells, releasing CD47-blockers from within. As you might guess, CD47 is a cell marker present on most tumors, and it’s used to dampen tumor-infiltrating T-cells. Beyond being an interesting idea, mice who received local tumor injections of these E. coli vehicles of CD47-blockers experienced objective systemic responses and improved survival. TBL: Engineered bacteria may be the next forefront of targeted immunotherapy. | Chowdhury, Nat Med 2019