A research team led by Professor Eijiro Miyako at the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Technology, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), has discovered that the marine bacterium Photobacterium angustum demonstrates remarkable therapeutic efficacy against colorectal cancer.

Through screening of multiple marine bacterial strains, the researchers found that P. angustum, in its natural, non-engineered form, selectively accumulates in tumor tissues and induces both direct tumor lysis and robust immune activation.

In mouse models, intravenously administered P. angustum showed high tumor tropism while exhibiting minimal colonization of vital organs except the liver, with no hematological abnormalities or histological toxicity observed.

Experts say we’re in a golden age for treating chronic kidney disease, with new drugs like Ozempic yielding major results. Will dialysis and organ transplants become a thing of the past?

The rising incidence of LC underscores the pressing need for more effective treatment strategies. Cryoablation has emerged as a promising approach for various cancers, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [11,12,24]. A recent meta-analysis by Xu et al. (2023) found that cryoablation for the treatment of NSCLC was superior to radiofrequency ablation, with improved disease-free survival time, along with fewer complications and a significant reduction in recurrence rates [6]. While effective, an understanding of the MLT is necessary to assure that lung cancer destruction remains unknown. Several clinical studies have suggested an MLT in the −20 °C to −35 °C range [24,25,26]. Accordingly, in this study we utilized the A549 cell line as a model to investigate the response of lung adenocarcinoma carcinoma cells to freezing in an effort to identify the MLT. Additionally, we investigated the effect of combining cryoablation with gemcitabine, a standard chemotherapy drug as a potential adjunctive treatment path for NSCLC.

Understanding the MLT is crucial for optimizing cryoablation protocols. While previous studies have investigated MLT for various cancers, defining it for LC remains open due to the complex nature of lung tissue and varying responses to freezing. The results of this study demonstrate that A549 cells were effectively destroyed following a: single freeze ≤−25 °C; repeat freeze to −25 °C; combination treatment with a single freeze ≤−20 °C; and combination treatment with a repeat freeze ≤−15 °C (Figure 1 and Figure 3). Our reported lethal temperature of −25 °C for a repeat 5 min freeze is comparable to other published data [24] as well as other cancer types, which range from −20 °C to −40 °C [18,19,21,33,58]. Further, studies have shown that translation of the MLT as determined in in vitro studies translates well into in vivo application. For instance, Snyder et al.