Transcript Synthetic Biology for Tumor Therapy

Synthetic Biology for
Tumor Therapy
Richard Melpignano
Current Tumor Therapy
 Chemotherapy
 Destroys rapidly dividing cells using cytotoxic
antineoplastic drugs
 Radiation
 Ionizing radiation to kill malignant cells
 Surgery
 Physical removal of cancerous tissues
Issues With Current Methods
 Chemotherapy
 Healthy cells that reproduce quickly are also destroyed
 Not specific to cancerous region
 Radiation
 Can cause nausea, infertility, and eventually diseases such
as heart disease or further cancer
 Surgery
 Usual surgical complications and infection
Synthetic Cell Cancer Treatment
Salmonella Typhimurium
 Specific strand of bacteria not harmful to human cells
 Can be slowly and completely eliminated from body
 Grow in anaerobic, acidic regions, like those present in
tumors, a thousand times faster than any other part of
the body
 Well known genetic makeup (since very similar to
E.Coli)
Synthetic Biology for Salmonella
 Salmonella contains a cellular pathway that controls the
injection of proteins into human cells
 Through genetic engineering, these pathways can be
modified to produce cytotoxic, anti-cancer proteins
Goals for Tumor Therapy
 Cytotoxins must not be released into healthy cells
 Drugs must be released only when attached to a
promoter molecule specifically present in tumor cells
 Immune system response must be suppressed towards
the engineered Salmonella cells
Tests
 These genetically engineered Salmonella bacteria have
not been tested for tumor therapy in humans, but tests
in mice are very promising
 Salmonella was found to be more effective at cytotoxin
delivery than previously tested E. Coli cells
Production and Degradation:
E.Coli vs S.Typhimurium
Problems
 Isolating biological circuits are far more difficult than
isolating electrical systems
 directed evolution must be used as a trial-and-error
process to make sure that even though some biological
circuits will interfere with others
 Genetically Engineering strains of cells is very time
consuming and parts of genetic code must be built from
scratch each time
 Many organizations (like the ETC group and Friends of
the Earth) are completely against the synthetic biology
field as a whole
New Advancements
 In January 2013, scientists from Imperial College in
England found a way to mass-produce genetic parts of
simple organisms
 This could solve the problems of time consumption and
extra work needed for the development of engineered
cells
Resources
 "Discovery in Synthetic Biology Takes Us a Step Closer to New 'Industrial
Revolution'" ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
 Nabil, Arrach. "Engineering Salmonella for Lung Cancer Therapy." TRDRP
Grant. Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, 2007. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
 Pennisi, Elizabeth. "111 Organizations Call for Synthetic Biology
Moratorium." ScienceInsider. N.p., 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
 Prindle, Arthur, Jangir Selimkhanov, Tal Danino, Phillip Samayoa, Anna
Goldberg, SangeetaN. Bhatia, and Jeff Hasty. "Genetic Circuits in
Salmonella Typhimurium." National Center for Biotechnology
Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 09 Aug. 2012. Web. 28
Mar. 2013.
 Trafton, Anne. "MIT Team Builds Most Complex Synthetic Biology Circuit
Yet." MIT's News. MIT News Office, 7 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.