Tumor-Homing Bacteria Therapy

Tumor-homing bacteria therapy uses facultative or obligate anaerobic bacteria that are able to seek out cancerous tissue in the body, suppress tumor growth, and persist in the body for a long time after being introduced. Once administered, the bacteria migrate to the tumor and grow there, then use mechanisms that differ by species to destroy the solid tumor; species studied for this purpose include Salmonella, Clostridium, Bifidobacterium, Listeria and Streptococcus. The earliest evidence for the approach dates to 1813, when physicians observed that cancer patients who developed gas gangrene, an infection caused by Clostridium bacteria, sometimes experienced tumor regression.