Chinese researchers produce ‘smart living glue’ to treat bowel diseases

​​​​​​​By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) - Chinese scientists have managed to develop a "smart living glue," composed of programmed bacteria that can navigate the gut to treat bowel diseases, state-run Xinhua News reported Tuesday.

The method offers a new targeted treatment approach for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with the use of a harmless modified strain of E. coli, a type of common gut bacteria

The research was published Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology by a research team from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology and Shenzhen University, both in south China's Guangdong province.

Scientists managed to engineer E. coli with a gene circuit that is activated specifically by blood, a key indicator of severe IBD flare-ups involving mucosal injury and bleeding.

Once active, the bacteria produce a sticky protein to form a durable "seal" at the bleeding site and release a healing agent to repair the gut lining, said the research.

"The engineered microbes are cultured in liquid and orally administered. Once activated in the gut, they form a film-like morphology that adheres to specific bleeding sites, where they help stop bleeding and repair damage," said Zhong Chao, the study's corresponding author.

The group plans to advance the "living glue" toward clinical studies to provide a new targeted therapy for bowel disease patients.