With the emergence of genetic engineering, synthetic biology and other technologies, various types of genetically modified bacterial strains have been gradually developed and applied in recent years. On the one hand, the toxicity and immunogenicity of these strains have been well controlled. On the other hand, they can deliver therapeutic genes, proteins and other related drugs to the disease site to achieve the purpose of treating different diseases. Besides, owing to the advancements of physio-chemical technology, material science and nano-technology, surface decorated bacteria can be used as drug delivery systems in treating diverse diseases, such as cancers, inflammations, metabolic disorders etc. Apart from directly taking use of live bacteria, bacterial derivatives including bacterial ghosts, bacterial outer membrane vesicles, and bacterial secretions, have also become research focuses for antibacterial and anticancer therapies.

Recently, Professor Sun Xun, head of the Department of Pharmaceutics of our faculty, together with Professor Liu Jinyao from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, led the organization of a special issue named “Advances in Bacteria-based Therapy for Drug Delivery” in an authoritative review journal in the field of pharmaceutics,Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (IF = 17.873), and sincerely invited many well-known professors at home and abroad to write high-quality reviews. This theme issue systematically reviews and discusses the design principles, therapeutic strategies and diverse applications of bacterial-based therapy for drug delivery, aiming at presenting the advantages, challenges, and potential future promising research and technology directions of bacteria as a therapeutic drug to the readers. These ten review papers with different focuses will provide the reference to the further development of bacterial-based therapeutic strategies and contribute to the promotion of collaboration and progress in this interdisciplinary field.

Information of the special issue:

SI:Advances in Bacteria-based Therapy for Drug Delivery

https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/advanced-drug-delivery-reviews/special-issue/10SHTCCSP2V