Cancer is the second highest cause of death worldwide. Cancer cells thrive by competing with normal cells for survival. Living bacteria are now deployed to fight back cancer called as bacteriotherapy and has sparked interest in the fields of immunotherapy and bioengineering. Nanotechnology has the potential to radically change how we diagnose and treat cancer. Bacteriaotherapy for cancer treatment can be considered a novel treatment strategy with fewer side effects if applied correctly and can be utilized alone or as a booster with typical therapeutic methods.

1. NANO-ENGINEERED
BACTERIOTHERAPY
FOR CANCER
PRESENTATION BY:
• Shaista Sumayya
• PharmD
• Sultan-ul-Uloom College of pharmacy

2. BACTERIOTHERAPY
• Cancer is the second highest cause of death worldwide. Cancer
cells thrive by competing with normal cells for survival.
Living bacteria are now deployed to fight back cancer called as
bacteriotherapy and has sparked interest in the fields of
immunotherapy and bioengineering.
• Nanotechnology has the potential to radically change how we
diagnose and treat cancer.
• Bacteriaotherapy for cancer treatment can be considered a
novel treatment strategy with fewer side effects if applied
correctly and can be utilized alone or as a booster with typical
therapeutic methods.

3. Living bacteria carry functionalized
nanoparticles
• Bacteria can deliver therapeutic signals to tumours, but when
they are engineered to carry foreign molecules such as
nanoparticles the genetic stability of the engineered bacteria in
the recipient cells must be carefully considered.
• A non-toxic fluorescent dye, indocyanine green (ICG) is
combined with a solubilizing agent, Cremophor EL (CRE), to
form ICG-CRE nanoparticles. Incubating the resultant
nanoparticles with Bifidobacterium bifidum produced the
modified bacteria.
• Exposure to infrared radiation triggered a thermal effect from
the ICG-dye that effectively eliminated the heat-sensitive
cancer cells.

4. Therapeutic drug formulated as a nanoparticle
Nanoparticle incubated into the bacteria –
NANOENGINEERED BACTERIA
Nanoengineered bacteria deployed into the patient -
BACTERIOTHERAPY
Bacteria moves to the tumor site and causes release of the
therapeutic molecule
Death of the cancer cells
NANOENGINEERED BACTERIOTHERAPY

5. Living bacteria carry functionalized
nanoparticles

6. AdvantagesofNanotherapyoverconventional
chemotherapy
• Maximal deposition of therapeutic molecules into the tumour
• Serve as both a photothermal and a tracking agent.
• Easily prepared in two steps - incubation and washing processes.
• Increase the delivered drug’s overall therapeutic index
• The optically activated functional nanoengineered bacteria
exhibits:
1. Unique optical absorbance and fluorescent properties
2. Powerful photothermal conversion
3. High biocompatibility
4. Excellent tumor selectivity
5. Strong anticancer efficacy
6. Harmless to coexisting healthy tissue.

7. Limitations
• Bacteria’s pathogenicity leads to infection or even death in
patients.
• Short half-life of bacterial peptides and proteins and unstable-
mutatable DNA
Most-Utilized Bacterial Species Applied for Cancer
Treatment
Salmonella typhimurium
Listeria monocytogenes
Bifidobacteria
Clostridium
Lactic Acid Bacteria

8. • The therapeutic and diagnostic potential of the
nanoengineered bacteria opens avenues for their use as future
theranostic agents. Using up-to-date microbial technology,
living bacteria can be exploited to trigger tumour suppression
and contribute to the battle against cancer.
• Nanotheranostics is an example of successful personalized
medicine bearing dual role of early diagnosis and therapy to
cancer patients.
• Recently, advanced genetic engineering has increased the
ability to change bacterial strains, which can help the
production of non-hazardous bacteria that can treat cancer.
• Bacteriotherapy as mentioned above will be the most safe and
selective treatment of cancer in the future especially with the
development of biotechnology techniques.