title: Encapsulation of magnetotactic bacteria for targeted and controlled delivery of anticancer agents for tumor therapy.
abstract: We showed that magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) have great potentials to be used as microcarriers for targeted delivery of therapeutic agents. Indeed, magnetotaxis inherent in MTB can be exploited to direct them towards a tumor while being propelled by their own flagellated molecular motors. Nonetheless, although the thrust propelling force above 4 pN of the MC-1 MTB showed to be superior compared to other technologies for displacement in the microvasculature, MTB becomes much less efficient when travelling in larger blood vessels due to higher blood flow. In the latter case, a new technique developed by our group and referred to as Magnetic Resonance Navigation (MRN), has been successfully applied in larger vessels using synthetic microcarriers nut proved to be less efficient in the microvasculature due mainly to technological constraints. These findings called for the need to integrate both approaches by encapsulating MTB in special MRN-compatible microcarriers to be release in the vicinity of microvascular networks where they becomes more effective for targeting purposes in tumoral lesions. In this study Magnetococcus strain MC-1 were encapsulated in giant vesicles. The survival of the encapsulated bacteria was monitored. The release of bacteria from giant vesicles was also studied in different time intervals and conditions.
authors.affiliation: NanoRobotics Laboratory, Department of Computer and Software Engineering, Institute ofBiomedical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Afkhami
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taherkhani
authors.forename: Mahmood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martel
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005407:Flagella / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008280:Magnetics; D008833:Microcirculation; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000737:chemistry; D012984:Software; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004337:Drug Carriers; D008081:Liposomes; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; C017251:1,2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine