Cancer treatments began with aggressive cocktails of chemicals and evolved with the creation of drugs from cells. Now, living beings are being incorporated into the war against cancer. A few days ago, a team of researchers from the universities of San Diego (United States) and Adelaide (Australia) presented a study in the journal Science in which genetically modified bacteria were used to detect tumor DNA in the intestines of mice. This function could be incorporated into other projects, which have managed to send bacteria — modified to carry therapeutic payloads — into solid tumors. In this way, researchers were able to breach the barriers that tumors use to protect themselves from the immune system and directly apply medications, which has been a longstanding challenge.

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[EL PAÍS USA, 2023.9.5, https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-09-05/the-advent-of-bacteria-that-can-detect-if-a-tumor-is-developing-and-destroy-it.html]