Team:Penn/ProjectResults

What if you could combine spatial targeting and cellular targeting into the same therapeutic? This idea is unprecedented but would allow for precise targeting of specific cells within a specific area, leaving healthy tissue intact and keeping side effects to a minimum.

The 2012 Penn iGEM team has engineered a novel platform for targeted therapeutics which employs simultaneous spatial and cellular targeting. We have achieved spatial (and temporal) targeting with a blue light-switchable transgene expression system, and cellular targeting through display of an antibody-mimetic protein on the surface of E. coli for the first time.

As a proof of concept, we applied our system to the treatment of cancer, a disease in which spatial and cellular targeting are of utmost importance. We displayed a high-affinity antibody-mimetic protein which targets Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2), a protein commonly overexpressed in cancer cells. We combined this cellular targeting with a light-activated cytotoxic protein delivery system to successfully target and kill breast cancer cells.