COMPOUNDS PRODUCED BY Bacillus thuringiensis WITH ANTICANCER APPLICATION

Abstract

In the year 2020, there was a notable increase in cancer in Brazil, totaling about 626,030 new diagnosed cases, and 128 million deaths. Despite the fact that conventional anticancer therapies such as (surgical procedure, radiotherapy and chemotherapy) are decisive in the management of cancer patients, they are, however, ineffective in approximately 50% of cases of malignancy. The use of new tools for the treatment of cancer cells makes studies with the grampositive bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) promising, as it is distinguished by its ability to produce, in addition to crystals, other entomotoxic compounds, such as Cyt, Vip proteins and polysaccharides. In this review the authors searched about 2 online scientific databases with the following descriptors Bacillus thuringiensis AND cancer. Scientific criteria adopted in this review to classify the articles found by score (0 to 10), after the exclusion criterion 31 articles were selected. None obtained the maximum score of 10 points defined by the methodology, which indicates a deficiency in studies that deal simultaneously with purification research, characterization, cultivation conditions, in vitro and in vivo tests, and description of characteristics of these anticancer compounds produced by Bt. There was a clear gap in the literature on research with these compounds for medical application, which prevents further development in the area and increases the need for further studies.