Microbial-based cancer therapy-bugs as drugs: History & the essential role of medical imaging

Microbial-based cancer therapy aims to use tumor-specific infectious microbes to fulfill the unmet medical needs for patients with difficult-to-treat malignancies. The NIH is calling to revisit the old concept from new perspectives, by incorporating advances in science and technology, to establish an alternative to the traditional categories of cancer managements. Medical imaging offers unique insight into the mechanisms of action, assessment of success/failure, and advantages/pitfalls of microbial-based cancer therapy, which in turn should facilitate the advances of this new initiative in modern medical oncology.