Patent ID: 8470311

Claim:
A therapeutic agent comprising: (i) a pharmaceutical composition comprising an obligately anaerobic microorganism that has been transformed by an expression vector that functions in the obligately anaerobic microorganism, wherein the expression vector does not contain a plasmid replication unit that functions in wild-type E. coli and wherein the expression vector comprises: (1) a plasmid replication unit that functions in an obligately anaerobic microorganism but does not function in wild-type E. coli , and (2) a protein expression unit comprising DNA that encodes (a) a promoter that functions in the obligately anaerobic microorganism, (b) a protein with antitumor activity or a protein capable of converting an antitumor substance precursor into an antitumor substance, and (c) a terminator that functions in the obligately anaerobic microorganism; and (ii) a pharmaceutical composition comprising a colonization and proliferation enhancer for the obligately anaerobic microorganism.