title: Engineering Escherichia coli for light-activated cytolysis of mammalian cells.
abstract: By delivering payloads in response to specific exogenous stimuli, smart bacterial therapeutics have the potential to overcome many limitations of conventional therapies, including poor targeting specificity and dosage control in current cancer treatments. Although not yet explored as a trigger for bacterial drug delivery, light is an ideal induction mechanism because it offers fine spatiotemporal control and is easily and safely administered. Using recent advances in optogenetics, we have engineered two strains of Escherichia coli to secrete a potent mammalian cytotoxin in response to blue or red light. The tools in this study demonstrate the initial feasibility of light-activated bacterial therapeutics for applications such as tumor cytolysis, and their modular nature should enable simple substitution of other payloads of interest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Magaraci
authors.forename: Avin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Veerakumar
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Ashwin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amurthur
authors.forename: Justin Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jordan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goulian
authors.forename: Casim A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sarkar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057005:Bioengineering / Q000379:methods*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D003603:Cytotoxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D004912:Erythrocytes; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D062308:Optogenetics / Q000379:methods*; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D003603:Cytotoxins