Advances in Salmonella Typhimurium-based drug delivery system for cancer therapy

The clinical application of bacteria-mediated immune therapy dates back over a century ago. In recent years, these strategies have advanced greatly with the rapid development of synthetic biology and nan-otechnology. Several bacterial therapies have been developed allowing for more effective treatments for cancers, and Salmonella is one of the most studied bacterial species. Here, we review the advances in the bioengineered and functionalized Salmonella Typhimurium strains as drug delivery carries, including the various genetic circuits for programing these bacteria, the surface modification strategies using nanopar-ticles or other therapeutic agents for richer and broader features, and the bacterial component-based vehicles for cancer immunotherapy. This review will include the promises and challenges of these opti-mized Salmonella-based delivery systems and their related clinical trials. Ultimately, we hope to provide a spark of thought in the field of drug delivery and find important crosstalk between bacteria-mediated therapy and other different forms of treatments.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The clinical application of bacteria-mediated immune therapy has a long history and has greatly advanced in recent years. This review focuses on the bioengineered and functionalized Salmonella Typhimurium strains as drug delivery carriers, discussing the genetic circuits for programming these bacteria, surface modification strategies using nanoparticles or other therapeutic agents, and the potential of bacterial component-based vehicles for cancer immunotherapy. The promises and challenges of these optimized Salmonella-based delivery systems and their clinical trials are also discussed.