Magnetic bacteria target hard-to-treat tumours – Physics World


Isabelle Dumé


(Courtesy: NanoRobotics Laboratory/Polytechnique Montreal) Bacteria that respond to magnetic fields and low oxygen levels may soon join the fight against cancer. With further development, the method could be used to treat a variety of solid tumours, which account for roughly 85% of all cancers. Cancer cells in a growing tumour consume large amounts of oxygen and parts of the tumour will become starved of oxygen – or hypoxic. Now, a team led by Sylvain Martel of the NanoRobotics Laboratory at the Polytechnique Montréal – including researchers at McGill University – has developed a method that exploits the magnetotactic bacteria Magnetoccus marinus (MC-1) to overcome this problem. Indeed, the oxygen levels found in hypoxic regions of a tumour – about 0.5% – are perfect for MC-1.


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