ReviewNature reviews. Genetics2021
Theranostic cells: emerging clinical applications of synthetic biology.
Review in Nature reviews. Genetics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers.
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
64 citing papers in PubMed.
- Synthetic biology of oncolytic bacteria: Comparative microbial chassis and precise killing strategies.Toxicology reports · 2026Review
- A Framework for Women's Health Engineering Education: Pedagogical Foundations and Practical Implementation.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Review
- Review
- Biomaterials' Role in Improving Patient Care from Drug Testing and Delivery to Theragnostics and Regenerative Medicine.Journal of functional biomaterials · 2026Review
- Engineering oncolytic bacteria as precision cancer therapeutics: design principles, therapeutic strategies, and translational perspectives.Protein & cell · 2026Review
- Design and Modeling of Biosensor-Driven Encapsulation Systems for Systemic Delivery of Bacterial Cancer Therapy.ACS synthetic biology · 2026Article
- SUPER: Upcycling Genetic Parts for Precise Gene Expression Control, Leakage Minimization, and Genetic Circuit Stability.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Hyperspectral reporters for long-distance and wide-area detection of gene expression in living bacteria.Nature biotechnology · 2026Article
- Mucosal immunity in cancer metastasis: roles, mechanisms, and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- A Bioorthogonal and Programmable Bacterial Delivery System for Spatiotemporally Targeted Therapy of Solid Tumors.Exploration (Beijing, China) · 2025Article
- Engineered Bacteria-Nano Hybrid System: The Intelligent Drug Factory for Next-Generation Cancer Immunotherapy.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Smart closed-loop drug delivery systems.Nature reviews bioengineering · 2025Article
- Review
- Ingestible optoelectronic capsules enable bidirectional communication with engineered microbes for controllable therapeutic interventions.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
- Population-level amplification of gene regulation by programmable gene transfer.Nature chemical biology · 2025Article
- Engineered bacteria: Strategies and applications in cancer immunotherapy.Fundamental research · 2025Review
- Beneficial Probiotics with New Cancer Therapies for Improved Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Synthetic Biology-Based Engineering Cells for Drug Delivery.Exploration (Beijing, China) · 2025Review
- On-demand treatment of metabolic diseases by a synthetic drug-inducible exocytosis system.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Delivering living medicines with biomaterials.Nature reviews. Materials · 2025Article
4 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
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Synthetic biology seeks to redesign biological systems to perform novel functions in a predictable manner. Recent advances in bacterial and mammalian cell engineering include the development of cells that function in biological samples or within the body as minimally invasive diagnostics or theranostics for the real-time regulation of complex diseased states. Ex vivo and in vivo cell-based biosensors and therapeutics have been developed to target a wide range of diseases including cancer, microbiome dysbiosis and autoimmune and metabolic diseases. While probiotic therapies have advanced to clinical trials, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies have received regulatory approval, exemplifying the clinical potential of cellular therapies. This Review discusses preclinical and clinical applications of bacterial and mammalian sensing and drug delivery platforms as well as the underlying biological designs that could enable new classes of cell diagnostics and therapeutics. Additionally, we describe challenges that must be overcome for more rapid and safer clinical use of engineered systems.
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.