title: Engineering of bacterial strains and their products for cancer therapy.
abstract: The use of live bacteria in cancer therapies offers exciting possibilities. Nowadays, an increasing number of genetically engineered bacteria are emerging in the field, with applications both in therapy and diagnosis. In parallel, purified bacterial products are also gaining relevance as new classes of bioactive products to treat and prevent cancer growth and metastasis. In the first part of the article, we review the latest findings regarding the use of live bacteria and products as anti-cancer agents, paying special attention to immunotoxins, proteins, and peptides. In particular, we focus on the recent results of using azurin or its derived peptide as anticancer therapeutic agents. In the second part, we discuss the challenges of using metagenomic techniques as a distinctive approach for discovering new anti-cancer agents from bacterial origin.
authors: Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering (IBB), Center for Biological and Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors: Nuno
authors: N
authors: Bernardes
authors: Ananda M
authors: AM
authors: Chakrabarty
authors: Arsenio M
authors: AM
authors: Fialho
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001400:Azurin / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism; D001691:Biological Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods; D019295:Computational Biology; D000922:Immunotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D056186:Metagenomics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D000922:Immunotoxins; D001400:Azurin