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Live bacterial therapeutics for detection and treatment of colorectal cancer

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Live microorganisms can be manipulated and engineered for colorectal cancer detection and treatment through methods such as faecal microbiota transplantation, native bacteria engineering and synthetic circuit engineering. Although promising, substantial effort is required to translate these approaches for clinical use.

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Fig. 1: Applications of live bacterial therapeutics for colorectal cancer.

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Acknowledgements

J.Z. is supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-2038238. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. A.Z. and J.H. are supported by NIH R01 AI163483 and R01 EB030134. A.Z. is further supported by NIH U01 CA265719 and receives institutional support from NIH P30 DK120515, P30 DK063491, P30 CA014195 and UL1 TR001442.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Joanna Zhang & Jeff Hasty

  2. Biodynamics Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Joanna Zhang & Jeff Hasty

  3. Synthetic Biology Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Joanna Zhang, Jeff Hasty & Amir Zarrinpar

  4. Center for Microbiome Innovation, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Jeff Hasty & Amir Zarrinpar

  5. Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Amir Zarrinpar

  6. Division of Gastroenterology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Amir Zarrinpar

  7. Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Amir Zarrinpar

Authors
  1. Joanna Zhang
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  2. Jeff Hasty
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  3. Amir Zarrinpar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amir Zarrinpar.

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Competing interests

J.H. is a co-founder of GenCirq, which focuses on cancer therapeutics; he is on the Board of Directors and has equity in GenCirq. His spouse is employed part-time for bookkeeping and to support employees with Human Resources. A.Z. has a patent for PCT/US18/27998 pending and licensed to Endure Biotherapeutics and holds equity and is the acting Chief Medical Officer of Endure Biotherapeutics. J.Z. declares no competing interests.

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Zhang, J., Hasty, J. & Zarrinpar, A. Live bacterial therapeutics for detection and treatment of colorectal cancer. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 21, 295–296 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-024-00901-8

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