Programmable bacteria for the treatment of cancer

Abstract

Disclosed herein are programmable bacteria for tumor-targeted immunotherapeutic delivery. In certain embodiments, the programmable bacteria comprise at least one synchronized lysis circuit contained in a single operon which are capable of being further engineered to cyclically produce anti-cancer therapeutic agents including but not limited to nanobodies against immune checkpoint inhibitors and over-expressed markers in cancers, toxins, tumor antigens, cytokines, and chemokines. In some embodiments, the programmable bacteria comprise at least one synchronized lysis circuit contained in a single operon and at least one plasmid producing a therapeutic agent, i.e., at least one plasmid comprising a nucleic acid sequence which encodes a therapeutic agent. The disclosure also provides methods of curing and treating cancer using the programmable bacteria.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.