Engineered probiotic bacteria produce cancer drugs inside tumors

September 22, 2026
8:12 pm

E. coli in uncooked meat can cause diarrhea and food poisoning. Scientists, however, have found a way to turn the bacterium into a delivery agent that takes drugs straight to a tumor and transforms it into a tiny cancer drug dispensary.

E. coli has a natural tendency to travel through the body and specifically colonize and grow inside tumor cores. A recent study by researchers from Columbia University harnessed this trait and genetically engineered a probiotic strain of the bacterium to produce an enzyme called cytosine deaminase (CD) that anchors to tumor tissue. This allows it to convert 5-FC, a nontoxic prodrug that remains harmless in the body until activated, into 5-FU, a powerful cancer-killing chemotherapy drug, directly inside the tumor.

Engineered probiotic bacteria produce cancer drugs inside tumors

E. coli in uncooked meat can cause diarrhea and food poisoning. Scientists, however, have found a way to turn the bacterium into a delivery agent that takes drugs straight to a tumor and transforms it into a tiny cancer drug dispensary.

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