Towards a cancer-chemopreventive diet

Abstract

Commensal microbes engineered to convert natural compounds found in cruciferous vegetables into molecules with anticancer properties prevent carcinogenesis and cause the regression of colorectal cancer in mice fed with a vegetable diet.

Fig. 1 |. microbial engineering for the enhanced prevention and treatment of cancer.

Cancer-prevention strategies based on dietary modification or supplementation are typically limited by host characteristics that restrict the bioavailability of dietary metabolites. Similarly, the microbe-mediated conversion of dietary compounds into anticancer metabolites may be insufficient to reach the concentrations necessary to exert their effects. Engineered microbes can provide higher metabolic function in cases where native mechanisms are absent or limited in the human gastrointestinal tract. In cases where neoplastic lesions have already formed, engineered microbes may be able to specifically direct prevention strategies to tumour areas or to host antitumour defences within tumours. Engineered microbes may also be used as a cellular ‘chassis’ to perform a wide range of functions at tumour sites, including the eradication of oncogenic pathogens, the delivery or metabolization of antitumour drugs, the reactivation of immunity, and assisting in tumour detection.