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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1481514
This article is part of the Research Topic Vaccines on Mucosal Immunity View all 3 articles

A Novel Oral Vaccine Delivery System for Enhancing Stability and Immune Protection: Bacterium-like Particle with Functional Coating

Provisionally accepted
Xinqi De Xinqi De 1Mingchun Gao Mingchun Gao 1Zheng Jia Zheng Jia 1Hongkun Ren Hongkun Ren 1Runhang Liu Runhang Liu 2Xinyao Zhou Xinyao Zhou 1Junjie Guo Junjie Guo 1Jiaqing Wang Jiaqing Wang 1Qi Yu Qi Yu 1Nanzhu Qu Nanzhu Qu 1Fang Wang Fang Wang 2*Junwei Ge Junwei Ge 1*
  • 1 Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China
  • 2 Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Bacterium-like particles (BLPs) have gained significant attention in vaccine development due to their potential as effective immune enhancers and antigen delivery systems. BLPs are generated by boiling lactic acid bacteria in an acidic solution and are devoid of proteins and nucleic acids, offering advantages in terms of ease of preparation, high safety, and good stability. Furthermore, by employing protein anchor (PA), heterogeneous antigens can be efficiently displayed on the surface of BLPs, resulting in enhanced delivery effectiveness. Despite these benefits, most BLP-based vaccines are currently administered via injection or intranasal delivery, with oral delivery remaining limited. This limitation is primarily due to the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract, which degrades the antigens displayed on the surface of these particles. To enhance the efficacy of oral immunization with subunit vaccines, we developed a simple and rapid method for self-assembling a lipid membrane onto the surface of BLPs vaccines, achieving an encapsulation efficiency of up to 99%, and the combination has good biosafety. The novel oral delivery system not only preserves the adjuvant activity of BLPs but also efficiently protects antigens from adverse gastrointestinal environments, increasing the absorption of the vaccine in intestinal Peyer's patches (PPs). Oral immunization was required only once, and protection after the challenge was up to 100%. Furthermore, we observed rapid immunity and cross-protection. Transcriptome analysis of the small intestine suggested that immune enhancement probably be exerted by promoting the absorption and transport of antigens. Therefore, we posit that the design of this new oral delivery system presents a novel approach to advancing the development of oral subunit vaccines.

    Keywords: oral delivery, Subunit Vaccines, Bacterium-Like Particles, lipid membrane, Antigen absorption

    Received: 16 Aug 2024; Accepted: 15 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 De, Gao, Jia, Ren, Liu, Zhou, Guo, Wang, Yu, Qu, Wang and Ge. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Fang Wang, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150069, Heilongjiang Province, China
    Junwei Ge, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China

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