Targeted delivery of bio-synthetic lycopene by the bacterial carrier

Lycopene is a potent antioxidant and has an anti-carcinogenic activity. However, it still remains technically challenging to formulate lipophilic lycopene as an anticancer drug. This issue was addressed by development of a bacterial carrier for targeted delivery of lycopene. First, Escherichia call was engineered for lycopene synthesis by pathway engineering. A HER2/neu-affinity domain was subsequently displayed on the surface of the lycopene producer, rendering the strain selectively invasive. Finally, the bacterial carrier was fabricated by permeabilizing the constructed strain to facilitate release of the lycopene cargo. As a result of multiple infections with the bacterial carrier, the growth of HER2/neu-positive breast cancer cells was completely arrested. The result indicates that our proposed strategy is promising and may open up a new avenue of targeted cancer therapy using chemopreventive chemicals. (C) 2015 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.