How about this idea? A microbe (actually a bacteria) that can target and treat cancer. For a price of about $ 1 a dose.
No, this isn’t quite science fiction. But, it’s not yet science reality.
That may change since ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health) has provided a $ 20 million grant to scientists at the Texas A&M University and the University of Missouri. The funding is for four years, part of Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative.
$ 12 million of the funding goes to the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, under the direction of Drs. Arum Ham, Jim Song, and Chelsea Hu. They will be engineering bacteria that help T cells kill cancerous tissue. And, the microbes are to self-destruct when the cancer is gone. (The bacteria are called SPIKES – synthetic programmable bacteria for immune directed killing in tumor environments). Even though the bacteria is targeting the tumor cells, the rest of the body is perfectly safe.
Dr. Han (electrical engineer) is screening massive bacterial therapeutic libraries, once cell at a time. That’s how he hopes to find the the most promising treatments. Dr. Song (immunologist) working with Brucella melitensis, which has been found to promote T cell mediated anti tumor behavior (for at least four types of cancers). The goal is to improve the microbe’s ability to do so. Dr. Hu (chem e, synthetic biology) is working to ensure the bacterial therapy is safe and controllable. (They have removed a key gene that is associated with bacterial virulence); controlling the rate growth (genetic alteration, having it oscillate about a setpoint), the ability to self-destruct, and the addition of biosensors that will enable differentiation between healthy tissues and tumors, are the other components of the research. (It is anticipated that an antibiotic will be administered at the end of the treatment to destroy and evacuate the bacteria.)
At the University of Missouri, under the leadership of Dr. Paul de Figueiredo, the team is going to optimize the concept of a single dose treatment. And, he knows that the bacterial therapeutic alone will not kill the cancer cells. The immune response will have to be activated. They will be using CRISPR technology to reengineer the microbe for this potentiality.
The three factors de Figueiredo knows he must manipulate to keep the cost down include ensuring the bacterial manufacture is scalable, that they can be delivered via a normal supply chain (not like the ultra-cold delivery needed for RNA vaccines) to remote locations will have access to the treatment (without special refrigeration), and that they are compatible with the person receiving the treatment.
This can ber a very exciting development!
