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Justin Stebbing: How bacteria-based cancer therapies work?

Justin Stebbing/healthpost.in

Mar 19, 2025, 04:33

Justin Stebbing: How bacteria-based cancer therapies work?

Using bacteria to fight cancer might sound like something out of science fiction, but the idea has been around for over a century. Back in the 1860s, William B. Coley injected a patient with inoperable bone cancer with streptococcal bacteria and saw something remarkable – the tumor shrank. This was one of the earliest examples of harnessing the immune system to attack cancer.

Over the following decades William B. Coley treated patients using bacterial injections or bacterial toxins, later known as Coley’s toxins. Though his approach eventually fell out of favor with the rise of radiation and chemotherapy, modern science is now revisiting the potential of bacteria-based cancer therapies, using advanced genetic engineering to create targeted, tumor-fighting bacteria.

Today, researchers are developing bacterial therapies that not only infect and break down tumors but also supercharge the immune system to attack cancer cells. What started as an unconventional experiment in the 19th century is now a cutting-edge area of cancer research, with promising treatments making their way through clinical trials.

Justin Stebbing, Visiting Professor of Cancer Medicine and Oncology at Imperial College, London and a Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Cambridge, wrote about Bacteria-based cancer therapies in a recent blog published on The Conversation:

“In one study I worked on, we showed that part of a bacterial cell wall, when injected into patients, could safely help control melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer.

While we’re still in the early stages, the potential of bacteria-based cancer therapies is becoming increasingly clear. As our understanding of tumour biology and bacterial engineering improves, we may be on the cusp of a new era in cancer treatment.

Bacterial-based cancer therapies take advantage of several unique mechanisms to specifically target tumour cells. As a result, these therapies could offer a powerful new tool in our arsenal against cancer, working in synergy with existing treatments like immunotherapy and chemotherapy. And, as we look to the future, bacteria-based cancer therapies represent a fascinating convergence of historical insight and groundbreaking science.”

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