Title:Prospects of Bacteriotherapy with Nanotechnology in Nanoparticledrug Conjugation Approach for Cancer Therapy
VOLUME: 23 ISSUE: 14
Author(s):Ritu Raj and Surajit Das
Affiliation:Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Ecology (LEnME), Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela- 769 008, Odisha, India.
Keywords:Bacteriotherapy, nanoparticles, drug-delivery, cancer, hypoxia, cancer therapy.
Abstract:Bacteriotherapy and nanotechnology have shown remarkable potential
in diagnostic and therapeutic applications for various diseases. Individual
impacts of these micro-nano systems over different aspects of human health
are well studied; however, an integrated system of bacteria-nanoparticle (NP)
conjugation is less explored. The untamed potential of bacteria-NP conjugation
could be a new tool for diagnosis and treatment of invasive diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and cancer.
Mammalian cells exhibit cytosis as their defense mechanism when they encounter foreign elements such as
bacteria. In these mammalian cells, during phagocytosis, bacteria are ruptured and lysed by lysozymes. A bacterium
carrying the drug-tagged NP would be engulfed in the same manner and ultimately reaches the target
cells. Rapid and continuous cell divisions in the cancer tissues lead to defective vessels, underdeveloped cellcell
interconnects, development of hypoxic areas and heterogeneous population of tumor cells. This unorganized
and poorly developed angiogenesis in tumor cells makes it difficult for conventional chemotherapeutic
drugs to localize the tumors selectively. In the present scenario of diagnosis and treatment of cancer/tumor
cells, it could be expected that the existing bacteriotherapy with the advanced nanotechnology would be a way
further in the targeted drug delivery for cancer therapy. This review emphasizes the potential applications of
bacteriotherapy with nanotechnology for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
