Mechanisms of bacterial cancer therapy
Mechanisms of bacterial cancer therapy
The Microbial and Metabolic Immune Modulation lab at the CRUK Scotland Institute focusses on bacterial-tumour interactions in the context of colorectal cancer. The concept of bacterial cancer therapy dates to William Coley, who developed ‘Coley’s toxins’, a preparation of heat killed bacteria injected into tumours. Our work largely focuses on the use of live-attenuated Salmonella as a cancer therapy; we are dissecting the mechanisms by which attenuated Salmonella treatment leads to tumour regression, looking at the adaptation of the bacteria to the tumour environment, and the effects on cancer cells and on immune responses. With a detailed mechanistic understanding of bacterial therapy, we aim to achieve optimal engineering of Salmonella to advance towards clinical application.
We have projects focussing on the metabolic alterations following Salmonella infection of tumours, and the impact of this on immune function; immune priming; and understanding the bacterial adaptation to the tumour microenvironment. We can discuss project focus subject to interests.
Key references:
Copland A, Mackie GM, Scarfe L, Lecky DAJ, Gudgeon N, McQuade R, Ono M, Barthel M, Hardt W-D, Ohno H, Dimeloe S, Bending D, Maslowski KM. Salmonella cancer therapy metabolically disrupts tumours at the collateral cost of T cell immunity. bioRxiv. 2023;10.1101/2023.01.12.523780:2023.2001.2012.523780.
Mackie GM, Copland A, Takahashi M, Nakanishi Y, Everard I, Kato T, Oda H, Kanaya T, Ohno H, Maslowski KM. Bacterial cancer therapy in autochthonous colorectal cancer affects tumor growth and metabolic landscape. JCI Insight. 2021;6.