Team:Cornell
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 276,000 women will be diagnosed with new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2020. One in eight women are expected to develop breast cancer at some point in their lives.
A common existing form of treatment is chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy works by targeting fast-growing cells within the
body. However, since chemotherapy is administered intravenously,
it may be ineffective on tumors that lack vasculature.
So what can we do? We’re Cornell iGEM and this is
Lumicure. Lumicure combines bacterial therapy and
an imaging device to detect, monitor, and mitigate breast cancer.
After a doctor identifies a tumor and gives a diagnosis of breast cancer, he or she can use Lumicure’s bacterial therapy system, Trichotherapy. Genetically modified E. coli are injected into the site of the tumor and then grow specifically in cancer cells through immune selection.
The bacteria then constantly produce the therapeutic trichosanthin,
which then weakens and destroys cancer cells. The bacterial presence may
also recruit components of the immune system into the tumor, assisting in the
destruction of cancer cells. An included safety switch prevents the spread of bacteria
into healthy tissue.
The patient can then monitor the primary tumor through Trichoscan: a self-operated
fluorescent imaging device which detects a signal from a fluorescent protein produced
by the bacteria known as mCardinal. The patient is also able to locate metastases
elsewhere in the body.
With Lumicure, we hope to provide an innovative, viable framework for developing potential
treatments for breast cancer and other forms of cancer in the future.