Bacteria and Bacterial Components as Natural Bio-Nanocarriers for Drug and Gene Delivery Systems in Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Bacteria and bacterial components possess multifunctional properties, making them attractive natural bio-nanocarriers for cancer diagnosis and targeted treatment. The inherent tropic and motile nature of bacteria allows them to grow and colonize in hypoxic tumor microenvironments more readily than conventional therapeutic agents and other nanomedicines. However, concerns over biosafety, limited antitumor efficiency, and unclear tumor-targeting mechanisms have restricted the clinical translation and application of natural bio-nanocarriers based on bacteria and bacterial components. Fortunately, bacterial therapies combined with engineering strategies and nanotechnology may be able to reverse a number of challenges for bacterial/bacterial component-based cancer biotherapies. Meanwhile, the combined strategies tend to enhance the versatility of bionanoplasmic nanoplatforms to improve biosafety and inhibit tumorigenesis and metastasis. This review summarizes the advantages and challenges of bacteria and bacterial components in cancer therapy, outlines combinatorial strategies for nanocarriers and bacterial/bacterial components, and discusses their clinical applications.

Engineered bacterial outer membrane vesicles: a versatile bacteria-based weapon against gastrointestinal tumors

“…This novel approach significantly increased the infiltration of M2-type macrophages in tumor tissues and the levels of anti-tumor-associated cytokines, ultimately improving the survival rate of tumor-bearing mice 99 . It is worth noting that different bacteria and drug payloads require precise regulation of electroporation parameters to avoid destabilizing the OMVs membrane 100 . Besides internal drug loading, drugs can also be inserted into the membrane depending on lipophilicity or hydrophobicity.…”

Study of marine microorganism metabolites: new resources for bioactive natural products

“…More than 70 compounds belonging to different structural classes of marine microorganisms, such as polyketides, indolocarbozoles, isoprenoids, macrolides, non-ribosomal proteins, etc., have been proven to have antitumor effects on various cell lines ( Zong et al, 2023 ). Due to their selectivity towards tumor tissues, these marine bacteria and their spores ( Zong et al, 2023 ) also serve as ideal vectors for the delivery of therapeutic proteins to tumors. Marine bacterial toxins have also emerged as a promising strategy for cancer treatment ( Rommasi, 2022 ).…”

“…Biologically active compounds derived from marine Pseudomonas are diverse and include pyrroles, pseudoanes, pyrrolidenediones, floroglucines, phenazines, benzaldehydes, quinines, quinolones, phenanthenes, phthalates, anhydrides, moiramides, chaffrin, and bouchrin. Some of the biologically active compounds in these antimicrobials are dibutyl phthalate and di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, which were reported to be cathepsin B inhibitors ( Zong et al, 2023 ). Discodermold, briostatin, sarcoidin, and eletrobin are among the antibiotics produced mainly by marine bacteria ( Naeem et al, 2022 ).…”