From 2012.igem.org

Use of the GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) Strain E. Coli Nissle 1917

We have seen how the complex interplay between public opinion and science innovation can drastically affect the adoption and success of a new technology, such as our team’s bacterial drug delivery system. As pointed out earlier, pervading public opinion towards a bacterial therapeutic system such as the one developed by our team this year would most likely be negative. In an effort to address some of these issues, we have set out to investigate ways our system could be made more palatable to the general public.

One recent concept that we have identified as gaining general acceptance within the general public is the incorporation of “probiotic” organisms into a daily diet. Many foods, such as yogurts now advertise the presence of “probiotic” bacteria and there are “probiotic” supplements containing live bacterial cultures as well. One particular probiotic, E. Coli Nissle 1917 has attracted attention not only from the public, but also from the scientific community, where its potential beneficial properties have been investigated. The Nissle strain is notable for its lack of virulence factors and decreased immunogenecity [1]. These traits are what make Nissle a popular probiotic. Furthermore, recent research suggests that NIssle may be an effective treatment for a wide variety of diseases. Nissle has been found to preferentially colonize tumors, proliferating wildly in the borders between live and necrotic tissue, a highly desirable trait for any potential cancer treatment [2]. Further investigation has demonstrated that intravenously administered Nissle exhibits a similar behavior in breast cancer mouse models, and expression of recombinant azurin resulted in the prevention of cancer metastasis in mice.

Based on these properties, we believe that demonstrating that our drug delivery system can be implemented in Nissle 1917 would be the first step to addressing the potential hesitance that the public may have to bacterial based therapies. Because the chassis for our system is a probiotic, we can avoid not only the technical difficulties of ensuring that the host for our system is inherently safe, but also proactively address (or at least minimize) the initial “knee-jerk” reactions that many members of the general public may have to the idea of a bacterial therapeutic.