Report on the NCI Microbial-Based Cancer Therapy Conference

Abstract

The National Cancer Institute Inaugural Microbial-Based Cancer Therapy Conference was held in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 11-12, 2017. This interdisciplinary forum included industry leaders, academic investigators, and regulatory officers involved in the development of microbial-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the potential of virus- and bacteria-based therapies to halt tumorigenesis and induce immune responses in cancers where conventional therapy is inadequate. This summary highlights topics and viewpoints raised by the presenters and discussants and should not be viewed as the conclusions or recommendations of the workshop as a whole. .

Nanoscale Bacteria‐Enabled Autonomous Drug Delivery System (NanoBEADS) Enhances Intratumoral Transport of Nanomedicine

“…Although various strains of Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive bacteria are being explored as direct oncolytic agents (for a complete review of bacteria‐based cancer therapy, refer to refs. ), the mechanism of intratumoral translocation of bacteria remains poorly understood. The PI of PEGylated bacteria in the denser U87MG (brain cancer) tumor was ≈54% of the PI for PEGylated bacteria in HCT‐116 (colon cancer) and ≈60% of that in 4T1 (breast cancer).…”

“…). Moreover, there has been a burgeoning interest in microbial‐mediated cancer therapy as an alternative approach for hard to treat cancers . Thus far, bacteria monotherapy has not been successful, and bacteria therapy protocols rely on adjuvant radiation or chemotherapy, which lead to systemic exposure and the associated side effects.…”

“…Typhimurium 14028, has been demonstrated to have efficient targeting of solid tumors and metastatic cancer, a good safety profile, and effective tumor penetration mechanisms, although complete tumor regression through bacteria monotherapy has not been yet achieved (for a complete review of bacteria‐based cancer therapy, refer to refs. ). We hypothesized that in the absence of a directed migration mechanism (e.g., chemotaxis or magnetotaxis), bacteria translocation and proliferation could be exploited to autonomously deliver nanotherapeutics to poorly vascularized and hypoxic tumor tissue, currently inaccessible to passively diffusing nanotherapeutics.…”

Microbes as Medicines: Harnessing the Power of Bacteria in Advancing Cancer Treatment

“…The balance between the benefit and safety of the trial subject must be maintained. Appropriate techniques and measures must be adopted to evaluate the immune response of the subject and the overall therapeutic benefit [ 134 ]. Differences in tumor structure between preclinical animal models and the human subjects can impact bacterial penetration and proliferation in the tumor [ 5 ].…”

Bugs as Drugs, potential self-regenerated innovative cancer therapeutics approach for global health

“…Motivated by the need to target solid tumors and in light of recent scientific progress, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the first time held a conference in 2017 on microbial-based cancer therapy [15] which led to the publication of a white paper on the topic [16] and to the initiation of two new NCI funding opportunities to stimulate research on bacterial-based cancer therapies for solid tumors, for conditions for which cancer therapies are inadequate and for global health. The funding opportunity PAR-19-194 is aimed to support early research without preliminary data and PAR-19-193 [17] to support more advanced research, specifically encouraging preclinical research on new microbial-based cancer therapies suitable for low resource settings, especially for cancers prevalent in LMICs and compatible with local medical/health infrastructure [17].…”