Bacteriophage-based tumour delivery
Using viruses that infect bacteria, not human cells, as programmable delivery shells for cancer drugs and vaccines.
Phage particles are cheap, cannot replicate in human cells, and their coat proteins can be engineered to display tumour-homing peptides or antigens; phage display already underpins several approved antibodies. As a delivery vehicle in oncology the work is preclinical, with interest in phage-displayed neoantigen vaccines and in the tumour microbiome, where intratumoural bacteria could be targeted by phage. No oncology phage-therapy trial had reported efficacy by 2026.
How it works
Engineered phage capsids display homing peptides or antigens and carry payloads; they are cleared by the reticuloendothelial system rather than infecting human cells.
- No human tropism, so no productive infection
- Cheap manufacturing
- Highly modular surface display
- Rapid clearance and anti-phage antibodies
- No clinical efficacy data in oncology
- Limited payload capacity
Latest papers
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