Gene therapy using bacterial vectors.
Bacteria can be used for gene therapy via two strategies - either by transfection of eukaryotic host cells using bacteria (bactofection) or by alternative gene therapy that does not alter the host genome, but uses the prokaryotic expression system, which can be controlled or stopped from outside. While bactofection is optimal for gene substitution and DNA vaccination, alternative gene therapy is suitable forin situdelivery of proteins and treatment with intracellular bactochondria. A specific form of bacteria-mediated gene therapy is transkingdom RNA interference. In this review, advantages and issues related to bacterial vectors as well as the major applications in biomedical research are summarized. Despite numerous published experiments, especially in the treatment of solid tumors and gut infections, progress in the clinics lags behind and major improvements in the safety, and even more in the efficiency, of these approaches are needed.
Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Sasinkova 4, 811 08 Bratislava, Slovakia, petercelec@gmail.com.
Peter
P
Celec
Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia and Institute for Clinical and Translational Medicine, Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Roman
R
Gardlik
D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000235:genetics; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D034622:RNA Interference; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D019444:Vaccines, DNA