Bacteria-driven hypoxia targeting delivery of chemotherapeutic drug proving outcome of breast cancer

Local hypoxia is a common feature of many solid tumors and may lead to unsatisfactory chemotherapy outcomes. Anaerobic bacteria that have an affinity to hypoxic areas can be used to achieve targeted drug delivery in tumor tissues. In this study, we developed a biocompatible bacteria/nanoparticles biohybrid (Bif@DOX-NPs) platform that employs the anaerobic Bifidobacterium infantis (Bif) to deliver adriamycin-loaded bovine serum albumin nanoparticles (DOX-NPs) into breast tumors. The Bif@DOX-NPs retained the targeting ability of B. infantis to hypoxic regions, as well as the cytotoxicity of DOX. The biohybrids were able to actively colonize the hypoxic tumors and significantly increased drug accumulation at the tumor site. The DOX concentration in the tumor masses colonized by Bif@DOX-NPs was 4 times higher than that in the free DOX-treated tumors, which significantly prolonged the median survival of the tumor-bearing mice to 69 days and reduced the toxic side-effects of DOX. Thus, anaerobic bacteria-based biohybrids are a highly promising tool for the targeted treatment of solid tumors with inaccessible hypoxic regions. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-022-01373-1.