{"id":233363,"date":"2026-03-15T22:12:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T03:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/bugs-delivering-drugs-a-new-approach-to-colorectal-cancer-treatment-using-common-food-borne-bacteria"},"modified":"2026-03-15T22:12:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T03:12:46","slug":"bugs-delivering-drugs-a-new-approach-to-colorectal-cancer-treatment-using-common-food-borne-bacteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/bugs-delivering-drugs-a-new-approach-to-colorectal-cancer-treatment-using-common-food-borne-bacteria","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bugs delivering drugs\u2019: A new approach to colorectal cancer treatment using common food-borne bacteria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/bugs-delivering-drugs-a-new-approach-to-colorectal-cancer-treatment-using-common-food-borne-bacteria2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Baylor University researchers have developed a novel approach to fight colorectal cancer, using modified bacteria as a courier to deliver potent cancer-killing proteins into tumor cells. Michael S. VanNieuwenhze, Ph.D., FRSC, University Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Biology, along with Baylor doctoral students and a colleague at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, have <a href=\"https:\/\/linkinghub.elsevier.com\/retrieve\/pii\/S2451945625003885\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> their research in Cell Chemical Biology.<\/p>\n<p>Colorectal cancers accounted for the second-most deaths caused by cancer in 2025, according to the National Cancer Institute, highlighting the importance of new strategies for therapy and treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Building on growth in the use of bacteria as a tool in fighting cancer, VanNieuwenhze and his team attached saporin, a known cancer-killing toxin, to the surface Listeria monocytogenes, which delivers the toxin to tumor cells. Listeria, commonly recognized as a food-borne bacteria, can be modified for express therapeutic purposes while maintaining its ability to penetrate human cells\u2014making it, VanNieuwenhze said, a particularly promising agent in the fight against colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baylor University researchers have developed a novel approach to fight colorectal cancer, using modified bacteria as a courier to deliver potent cancer-killing proteins into tumor cells. Michael S. VanNieuwenhze, Ph.D., FRSC, University Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Biology, along with Baylor doctoral students and a colleague at Texas Tech University Health Sciences [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-chemistry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}