Study finds how bacterial vaccine demonstrates potential as treatment for cancer immunotherapy – Times of India

Columbia researchers have developed a new microbial cancer vaccine using probiotic bacteria that trains the immune system to target and eliminate cancer cells. This personalized vaccine has shown promising results in mice models, shrinking or eliminating tumors while sparing healthy tissue. The vaccine is more effective than previous peptide-based cancer vaccines and can be tailored to each patient’s specific tumor mutations. The researchers believe this new approach could potentially prevent cancer recurrence and are working towards testing the therapy in patients. The bacteria are engineered to produce neoantigens that target the patient’s specific cancer cells, activating the immune system to attack and destroy them. This innovative vaccine also overcomes immunosuppressive mechanisms used by tumors to evade the immune response, offering new hope for cancer treatment. Arpaia explains that using bacteria to deliver drugs allows for higher concentrations of the medication to be used, as opposed to delivering the drugs throughout the entire body. This targeted approach can be more effective and reduce potential side effects from systemic delivery.