Can we make good bacteria fight bad ones that cause cancer?
Surface expression of antitoxin on engineered bacteria neutralizes genotoxic colibactin in the gut
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Neutralizing colibactin caused a 30-fold drop in the population of the very bacteria that produce it.
Scientists expected to block damage, not eliminate the toxin-makers — this suggests colibactin isn’t just harmful to humans, but critical for the bad bacteria’s own survival.
Practical Takeaways
If you have a family history of colon cancer or IBD, ask your doctor about future probiotic trials targeting colibactin — this research is paving the way.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Neutralizing colibactin caused a 30-fold drop in the population of the very bacteria that produce it.
Scientists expected to block damage, not eliminate the toxin-makers — this suggests colibactin isn’t just harmful to humans, but critical for the bad bacteria’s own survival.
Practical Takeaways
If you have a family history of colon cancer or IBD, ask your doctor about future probiotic trials targeting colibactin — this research is paving the way.
Publication
Journal
Nature microbiology
Year
2025
Authors
Shaobo Yang, Zongqi Wang, Chengyuan Fang, Mengdi Yang, Saleh Khawaled, S. Bonanno, Neel S. Joshi, Yun Wei, Ke Zhang, Valeria Márquez-Pellegrin, Ming Guan, Songqi Zhang, Anna Clara Bader, Ningyuan Ye, Amber E Haley, Michael K. Dame, J. Spence, Xuesong He, James G. Fox, Ömer H. Yilmaz, Yatrik M. Shah, R. Romee, Jiahe Li
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Claims (6)
Certain strains of Escherichia coli that produce colibactin cause distinct double-strand breaks in the DNA of cells lining the colon, leading to characteristic mutation patterns known as SBS88 and ID18.
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Engineered bacteria with ClbS protein on their surface reduce DNA damage caused by a bacterial toxin in human colon tissue models and colorectal cancer cells.
Engineered bacteria displaying a specific protein called ClbS can reduce DNA damage caused by a toxin produced by other bacteria, with higher levels of the protein nearly eliminating the damage in human cells grown in the lab.
A genetically modified strain of E. coli bacteria, designed to produce a specific protein, reduces tumor formation by half to two-thirds in mice with intestinal inflammation and a genetic predisposition to colon cancer, when given alongside a cancer-promoting bacterial strain.