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neablis7 t1_j6o0nqh wrote

What are the important characteristics of the bacterial component to make this system work? Anything beyond motility and engineerability?

Is the surface display of biotin attachment peptides limited? Do you think you could see significant gains by using other bacteria, like clinically derived probiotics that are better adapted for nonpathogenic colonization? I'm thinking Lactobacillus here.

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intengineering t1_j6oh4gc wrote

In addition to motility and engineerability, (both very important, most probably the most key features you need in this system) bacteria can sense and respond to changes in their local environment, providing a higher level of autonomy (such as chemotaxis, pH taxis and even magnetotaxis in the case of magnetotactic bacteria). Their size is also an important feature, being in the sub-micron to 2-3 micrometer range helps for better tissue filtration.

It is definitely not limited, and other bacterial species are currently being used in such studies as well. Especially prebiotic and probiotic bacteria (e.g., E. coli Nissle; EcN) is a promising strain as well.

I didn't get into the specific role of bacteria in cancer therapy but here is my all-time favorite review paper on the subject, where you can find out more about the use of various bacterial agents in cancer immunotherapy!: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802035/pdf/IJMICRO2016-8451728.pdf

All the best,

/birgül

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neablis7 t1_j6oizso wrote

Thanks for the response! Interesting review article.

It does seem like a lot of these studies focus on either in-depth engineering of the bacteria (Like Tal Danino's lab) or lots of post-growth chemical/physical modification. It seems like there might be an opportunity to combine those approaches.

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