Magnetotactic Bacteria and Magnetosomes as Smart Drug Delivery Systems: A New Weapon on the Battlefield with Cancer?

Abstract

An important direction of research in increasing the effectiveness of cancer therapies is the design of effective drug distribution systems in the body. The development of the new strategies is primarily aimed at improving the stability of the drug after administration and increasing the precision of drug delivery to the destination. Due to the characteristic features of cancer cells, distributing chemotherapeutics exactly to the microenvironment of the tumor while sparing the healthy tissues is an important issue here. One of the promising solutions that would meet the above requirements is the use of Magnetotactic bacteria (MTBs) and their organelles, called magnetosomes (BMs). MTBs are commonly found in water reservoirs, and BMs that contain ferromagnetic crystals condition the magnetotaxis of these microorganisms. The presented work is a review of the current state of knowledge on the potential use of MTBs and BMs as nanocarriers in the therapy of cancer. The growing amount of literature data indicates that MTBs and BMs may be used as natural nanocarriers for chemotherapeutics, such as classic anti-cancer drugs, antibodies, vaccine DNA, and siRNA. Their use as transporters increases the stability of chemotherapeutics and allows the transfer of individual ligands or their combinations precisely to cancerous tumors, which, in turn, enables the drugs to reach molecular targets more effectively.

Magnetotactic Bacteria and Magnetosomes: Basic Properties and Applications

“…High biocompatibility of bacterial magnetosomes is confirmed by studies of cytotoxicity (MTT test), hemolytic activity and genotoxicity [176,177], and influences a range of potential applications in biomedicine [178,179], including oncology [180] (Figure 6). suitable for the biomedical applications, including self-propulsion, magnetotaxis and aerotaxis, are reasonably well studied.…”

Microbiologically-Synthesized Nanoparticles and Their Role in Silencing the Biofilm Signaling Cascade

“…The synthesis of magnetosomes is dependent on various environmental conditions, cellular stress, and cell proliferation cycles. The development of the magnetosomes involves transportation of iron outside the bacterial cell membranes via the vesicles that are formed, alignment of magnetosomes in a chain, development of crystals, and maturation of the crystals that are being formed (Kuzajewska et al, 2020). The membrane of the magnetosome differs from the plasmalemma on the basis of its composition and provides an appropriate environment for the purpose of biomineralization.…”

Bioinspired Magnetic Nanochains for Medicine

“…There is a significant pool of publications related to individual magnetosome nanoparticles and their uses in the biomedical field which were not a focus of our review. For instance, the magnetosome particles have been used in magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic hyperthermia, and drug delivery [ 27 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ]. Finally, we recommend existing review papers related to magnetosome particles for further reading [ 17 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 ].…”