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synackSA t1_jc7j9k9 wrote

I'm just a general person on the streets here, so forgive me if my understanding of things isn't 100%. Since this line of treatment focuses on the immune systems reaction, I was wondering what some possible side effects we could see from the way the cancer cells react to the bacteria? Are there any possibilities of it mutating the bacteria at all?

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EntropyMilk t1_jc7wbgp wrote

Not really, cancer in its simplest terms is a cell that is infinitely growing (through mitosis) because of a breakdown of the cell’s “checkpoints” that inhibit uncontrolled growth.

Now I’m not a microbiologist, but Bacteria are likely too simple to ever “get cancer” or be meaningfully changed by it outside of the path they take through the body, or the immediate immune response around the tumor.

Bacteria is much more likely to opportunistically infect sites of cell damage around cancer as it’s being treated.

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