Scientists have created a bacterium capable of detecting DNA fragments in colorectal cancer cells, making it an effective diagnostic tool.
Acinetobacter
Bacteria have already been designed to detect disease by reacting to specific metabolites or pathogens. But a team of researchers has gone a step further: they have designed a species of bacteria, a biosensor, to detect specific mutations in human DNA caused by colorectal cancer. The results of their work have been published in the journal Science.
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Colorectal cancer: a bacterium can improve detection
Colorectal cancer develops from cells in the inner lining of the colon or rectum. It is a common cancer in both men and women and is the second leading cause of cancer death for all sexes combined. So far in 2023 52,550 people have succumbed to the disease.
Colorectal cancer can be detected at an early stage through fecal occult blood screening (FOBT) and colonoscopy. The cancer-hunting bacteria developed by the international research team could therefore provide a new way of diagnosing this type of cancer.
To conduct their research, the researchers used Acinetobacter baylyi, a bacterium known for its ability to take up DNA from its environment.
A bacterium can detect bowel cancer in feces
They gave it genetic “instructions” in the lab to look for specific DNA sequences that carry mutations commonly found in colorectal cancer, even in places hard to reach by colonoscopy.
In practice, this means that if A. baylyi finds tumoral DNA, it activates an antibiotic-resistance gene by incorporating it into its own genome. Once this gene has been activated, the bacteria – which the researchers examined from the host’s feces – can reveal that cancer cells have been found.
References
Robert M. Cooper et al. , Engineered bacteria detect tumor DNA.Science381,682-686(2023).DOI:10.1126/science.adf3974
