ReviewNature reviews. Cancer2018
Tumour-targeting bacteria engineered to fight cancer.
Review in Nature reviews. Cancer, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 393 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
393 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 768 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bibliometric analysis of genetically engineered bacteria in tumor therapy.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative analysis of bacterial abundance and diversity in tumour tissue of oral squamous cell carcinoma and non-tumour tissue: insights from a systematic review of 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing.BMC oral health · 2025Pooled it
- Gut microbiota and gastrointestinal tumors: insights from a bibliometric analysis.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Review
- BiohybridMaterials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Organic Nanozyme-Embedded Biotherapeutic Thermosensitive Hydrogel for Extracellular GSH Depletion and Postoperative Tumor Suppression.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Imaging the hallmarks of cancer.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Review
- Bacterial engineering for cancer therapy.Nature cancer · 2026Review
- Intratumoral microbiota in colorectal cancer: roles, therapeutic potential, and challenges.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Radiation-Triggered Chemokine-Secreting Probiotics for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Based Radioimmunotherapy.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Programmable-bacteria-macrophage backpacks for enhanced solid tumor therapy via mechanobiological interplay.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- An Outer Membrane Vesicle-Based Vaccine Combined with alb-Flt3L Promotes Durable Antitumor Immunity in HPV-Associated Cancer.Vaccines · 2026Article
- Engineering cuproptosis with nanomedicine: Design, combination therapy, and translation in cancer.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- Bacterial-based cancer therapy: mechanisms and therapeutic advances.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Programmable Encapsulation Enables On-Demand Proliferation of Therapeutic Bacteria for Potent Cancer Immunotherapy.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Personalized cancer vaccines: bridging immune-oncology and precision medicine for advanced therapeutics.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Living Microbial Drugs.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Review
- Lactobacillus gasseri TF08-1 Alleviates DSS-Induced Acute Colitis by Protecting Intestinal Epithelial Barrier.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Article
- Intra-tumoral microbiota: Key modulators of tumor immunity and therapeutic potential.Genes & diseases · 2026Review
- Combined radiation andMolecular therapy. Oncology · 2026Article
333 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Recent advances in targeted therapy and immunotherapy have once again raised the hope that a cure might be within reach for many cancer types. Yet, most late-stage cancers are either insensitive to the therapies to begin with or develop resistance later. Therapy with live tumour-targeting bacteria provides a unique option to meet these challenges. Compared with most other therapeutics, the effectiveness of tumour-targeting bacteria is not directly affected by the 'genetic makeup' of a tumour. Bacteria initiate their direct antitumour effects from deep within the tumour, followed by innate and adaptive antitumour immune responses. As microscopic 'robotic factories', bacterial vectors can be reprogrammed following simple genetic rules or sophisticated synthetic bioengineering principles to produce and deliver anticancer agents on the basis of clinical needs. Therapeutic approaches using live tumour-targeting bacteria can either be applied as a monotherapy or complement other anticancer therapies to achieve better clinical outcomes. In this Review, we summarize the potential benefits and challenges of this approach. We discuss how live bacteria selectively induce tumour regression and provide examples to illustrate different ways to engineer bacteria for improved safety and efficacy. Finally, we share our experience and insights on oncology clinical trials with tumour-targeting bacteria, including a discussion of the regulatory issues.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.