Can we activate the production of immunotherapy drugs specifically inside solid tumors? Yes, by engineering gene circuits in tumor-homing bacteria to take commands from thermal focused ultrasound. Congratulations to Mohamad, Michael and collaborators on this new paper demonstrating the local delivery of checkpoint inhibitors inside solid by ultrasound-controlled probiotic agents.
Abedi MH#, Yao M#, Mittelstein DR, Bar-Zion A, Swift MB, Lee-Gosselin A, Barturen-Larrea P, Buss MT, Shapiro MG*. Ultrasound-controllable engineered bacteria for cancer immunotherapy. Nature Communications 13, 1585 (2022). article | press
