According to the redoubtable Professor Justin Stebbing of Anglia Ruskin University, yes we can. In fact he and his teams of researchers have already made a start, as his article in The Conversation makes clear[1] Like you gentle readers we had no idea this sort of thing was possible. But it certainly reinforces our old belief that research in one area has a funny way of becoming useful somewhere else.
Anyway, Professor Justin’s article is a bit of a tour de force. It starts with a historical survey. Apparently there was an American doctor called Colley who was trying this out, not unsuccessfully, as far back as 1861. The tumour itself might actually provide a relatively benign area for some of our bacterial allies, if we can get them in there successfully. There’s a nice little case example of strains of E coli which have been designed to deliver tumour-unfriendly proteins into immune cells, thereby training them up to recognise “hostiles”, when they see them.
As with all these discoveries that we report on early, there’s a lot of proving and testing and trialling, and all that sort of thing yet to be done. But Justin is nothing if not hardworking: have a quick glance at his website reveals the many scientific pies he has his professorial finger in. [2] It was particularly intriguing to see such scourges as colon, breast and the dreaded ovarian cancers on the list, as this suggests a serious purpose to address real needs. This is a truly encouraging development and one to watch in the years that lie ahead.
[2]https://www.aru.ac.uk/people/justin-stebbing
#cancer #bacteria #genetic engineering #immune system #medicine #health
Learning, Science and Society 