Engineered Bacteria Effectively Target Tumors, Enabling Tumor Imaging Potential in Mice

Tumor-targeted bioluminescent bacteria have demonstrated for the first time clear, three-dimensional (3D) images of tumors in mice, creating the possibility for targeted cancer drug delivery, according to recent research.

The study’s findings were published in the January 25, 2012, issue of the online journal PLoS ONE. The specially modified probiotic bacteria were intravenously injected into mice with tumors, after which the researchers took full body bioluminescent images. The 3D images revealed data about the number and location of the bacteria, to the level of exactly showing where within the tumor the bacteria were living, providing much more information on the interaction of bacteria and tumors than was previously available using similar 2D imaging approaches.

According to the authors, led by Mark Tangney, from University College Cork (Ireland), “Before now, researchers used luminescence to provide an approximation of where a test organism was within the body, and would then follow up with multiple further experiments using different techniques to try to find a precise location.”

This new research, according to the scientists, suggests that such bacteria can be modified to contain diagnostic or therapeutic agents that would be generated specifically within the tumor for targeted treatment.

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