Development of tumor therapy by Bifidobacterium

Bifidobacterium is an inherent intestinal flora of human body;it plays a major role in maintaining human body in good condition.Recent studies have showed that Bifidobacterium have a very strong anti-tumor function besides of general probiotic functions;meanwhile,Bifidobacterium is anaerobic and nonpathogenic,and it can selectively localize and proliferate in hypoxic tumors,so Bifidobacterium can be used as highly specific gene delivery vectors for cancer gene therapy.In this article,the developments of antitumor mechanism of Bifidobacterium itself and Bifidobacterium used as gene delivery vectors for tumor therapy will be reviewed.