Researchers at the Li Ka Shung Faculty of Medicine in HKU’s school of biomedical sciences have engineered the salmonella bacteria into a DNA-altered bacteria which they hope will be able to destroy cancerous tumours in the future.
The DNA-altered bacteria – dubbed YB1 – can only grow in an oxygen free environment such as the inside of a tumour, so researchers hope YB1 can be used to treat malignant cancer growths without damaging healthy tissue. Research into the capability of these bacteria has been occurring for years, but it is difficult to target tumours without attacking healthy tissue and further harming patients.
Salmonella is commonly found in uncooked meat and eggs. It can cause some nasty stomach pains, fever and diarrhoea, also recognised as a pretty terrible case of food poisoning.
In the future, scientists hope to use these engineered salmonella bacteria to transport medicine into the tumours.
The research team (L-R): Dr. Bin Yu, Professor Jiandong Huang and Dr. Lei Shi from HKU’s school of biomedical sciences. Photo: HKU
According to the SCMP, a patent has recently been granted in the US and clinical trials should start within the next few years.
The research, which has been tested on mice, has apparently yielded successful results so far. HKU reported that “in a breast cancer mouse model, tumour growth was reduced by 50 percent” whilst “in a liver cancer mouse model, tumour growth was remarkably suppressed by 90 percent” with the use of YB1.
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