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Ann Biol Sci, 2017
ISSN: 2348-1927
August 23-24, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
Annual Conference on
MICROBIAL PATHOGENESIS, INFECTIOUS DISEASE,
ANTIMICROBIALS AND DRUG RESISTANCE
W
hile some bacteria, such as
Helicobacter pylori
and
Agrobacterium tumefaciens
, are known to cause
cancer in human beings and plants, it has also been known for
over hundred years that when certain bacteria infect human
beings with cancer, the cancer regresses, often totally. It is
also well-known that many pathogenic bacteria with long
term residence in the human body as biofilms consider the
human body as their habitat and try to protect it fromoutside
invaders such as cancers, viruses and parasites through
secretion of protein weapons. In one instance,
Pseudomonas
aeruginosa
, an opportunistic pathogen, secretes a protein
azurin on contact with cancer cells. Upon release, azurin
enters preferentially to cancer cells and interferes in cancer
cell growth through multiple mechanisms involving complex
formation with various cellular proteins in cancer cells that
promote cancer cell growth. Such complex formation then
leads to loss of function of such cancer growth promoting
proteins. Thus azurin is known to induce apoptosis in cancer
cells, as well as interfere in rapid cancer cell growth, through
stabilization of tumor suppressor protein p53. Azurin also
forms complexes with vascular endothelial growth factor
receptor (VEGFR) and cell surface associated receptor
tyrosine kinases such as EphB2 to inhibit angiogenesis
and cell signaling in cancer cells to inhibit their growth. A
chemically-synthesized 28 amino acid fragment (Azurin
50-77), termed p28, has completed a phase I trial in 15
stage IV cancer patients with metastatic tumors that were
resistant to all conventional drugs and these patients had
a life expectancy of about 6 months. P28 not only showed
very little toxicity but also significant beneficial effects
including partial and complete regression of the tumors in
four patients, significantly prolonging their lives. P28 has
also shown similar lack of toxicity but good efficacy in several
pediatric brain tumor patients. The University of Illinois at
Chicago holds many patents on azurin/p28 as anticancer and
anti-infective agents and the patent eligibility issues on such
products of nature will be discussed.
e:
pseudomo@uic.eduMicrobial pathogenesis, drug development and patent related court cases
Ananda M Chakrabarty
University of Illinois College of Medicine, USA
Arch Clin Microbiol, 8:5
DOI: 10.4172/1989-8436-C1-003