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REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1551924
Application of Bifidobacterium in Tumor Therapy
Provisionally accepted- 1Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Kunming, China
- 2The 920th Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
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Current clinical cancer treatments primarily rely on surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy; however, each approach has inherent limitations.In recent years, nanomaterials have gained significant attention in oncology due to their advantages in precise drug delivery, enhanced targeting, and improved therapeutic efficacy. Nevertheless, their clinical application remains limited by challenges such as complex synthesis, high costs, low delivery efficiency, and poor biodegradability. Bifidobacterium (BBM), a clinically used probiotic, has demonstrated unique tumor-targeting potential due to its obligate anaerobic nature, allowing it to selectively colonize, proliferate, and expand within the hypoxic tumor microenvironment. Recent advancements in synthetic biology and bacterial engineering have enabled the modification of Bifidobacterium as a microrobot for molecular imaging, drug or gene delivery, and other therapeutic functions. Compared to nanomaterials, Bifidobacterium-based bacterial therapy holds promise in overcoming certain limitations while potentially enhancing comprehensive cancer treatment by modulating the tumor microenvironment and boosting host immune responses. This review summarizes the latest progress in Bifidobacterium-mediated tumor imaging and therapy, explores its mechanisms of action, engineering strategies, and clinical applications, and discusses future directions for optimizing its functional design to improve therapeutic efficacy and safety.
Keywords: Bifidobacterium, Malignant tumors, nanomaterials, Tumor hypoxic microenvironment, tumor targeting, immune activation
Received: 24 Jan 2025; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 孔, 李, 常, 柏 and 邓. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
前艳 李, Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Kunming, China
莉 常, Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Kunming, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.