Engineering Commons^™

Design Of A Targeted Bacterial Drug Delivery Vector For The Treatment Of Cancer And Metastases, Charles Alexander Swofford

Doctoral Dissertations

Engineered Salmonella possess unique capabilities that make them ideal drug delivery vectors for tumors. Targeted bacterial delivery of anticancer proteins has the ability to overcome therapeutic resistance in tumors that limits the efficacy of chemotherapeutics. In my doctoral research, I identified a protein-drug that can be expressed by bacteria and rapidly kills cancer cells. I also created a density dependent switch that initiates gene expression in tumors and prevents expression in healthy tissue. Combining these two systems has created a potent anti-cancer system that targets tumors with minimal toxicity. I cloned genes for five potential anti-cancer proteins into Salmonella. …