Use of Bacterial Ghosts as Novel Drug Delivery Systems to Improve Cancer Treatment

Despite the large number of various anti-cancer drugs on the market, proper delivery systemsare needed to decrease serious toxic and non-curative side effects. In order to enhancecompliance, several delivery systems such as polymeric micro- and nanoparticles, liposomalsystems and erythrocyte ghosts have been developed. Bacterial ghosts (BG) represent noveladvanced delivery and targeting vehicles suitable for delivery of hydrophobic or watersolubledrugs. BGs are empty bacterial envelopes of Gram-negative bacteria produced bycontrolled expression of cloned gene E, forming a lysis tunnel structure within the envelopeof the living bacteria. BGs are devoid of cytoplasmic content and possess all bacterial bioadhesivesurface properties in their original state while not posing any infectious threat. BGsare ideally suited as an advanced drug delivery system for toxic substances in tumor therapy.The inner space of BGs can be loaded with either single components or combinations ofpeptides, drugs or DNA which provides an opportunity to design new types of (polyvalent)drug delivery vehicles. In particular, Doxorubicin-loaded bacterial ghosts have been used totarget colon carcinoma cell. DOX, a cytotoxic drug commonly used in cancer therapy, wasused as a model substance to demonstrate the delivery of moderate water-soluble drugs byBGs. The application of DOX with BGs increased the efficacy of treatment by two folds. Thesame effect was observed after incubation of leukemia cells and melanoma cells with Doxloaded BG. These observations indicate high capacity of BGs to target various histologicaltypes of cancer. Optimization and improvement of the selected prospective model type ofBGs would help to progress the development of microbial-mediated diseases treatment anddrug delivery systems and their application in future clinical trials.

کلیدواژه ها:

Bacterial Ghost (BG) ، Drug Delivery ، Tumor Therapy ، Doxorubicin Loaded BG ، Colon Carcinoma Cell