Synthetic biology enables bacterial engineering to safely deliver payloads to tumors for anti-cancer treatment. American researchers have developed a preclinical evaluation process to characterize bacterial therapy in lung cancer models. The new research combines bacterial therapy with current targeted therapy for lung cancer, which can improve the therapeutic effect without any additional toxicity. The results were published in the journal Science Report recently. The Columbia University School of Engineering team used RNA sequencing to explore how cancer cells respond to bacteria at the cellular and molecular levels. They hypothesized that molecular pathways in cancer cells are helping cells develop resistance to bacterial therapy. To test this hypothesis, the researchers blocked these pathways with current anti-cancer drugs, and showed that the combination of drugs and bacterial toxins could more effectively eliminate lung cancer cells. They took a mouse model of lung cancer as an example to verify the combination of bacterial therapy and AKT inhibitors. Lung cancer is one of the most deadly cancers in the world. Many of the treatments currently available are ineffective. Bacterial therapy is a promising new strategy for cancer treatment. Although this treatment has rapidly developed into clinical trials in the past five years, the most effective treatment for some types of cancer may still be combined with other drugs. The researchers said that the new study described an exciting drug development process, which uses toxins from bacteria, which has never been explored in the treatment of lung cancer before. The preclinical data presented in this paper provide a strong basis for continuing the research in this field, thus opening up a new treatment option for patients with lung cancer. (Outlook New Times)