Probiotic-based oral vaccine mucosal delivery system enabling genetically encoded dual-antigen arrays
Oral vaccines provide a non-invasive approach for cancer immunotherapy but face challenges in gastrointestinal stability, antigen presentation, and mucosal delivery. Here, we present an engineered probiotic-based oral vaccine system, Bac<sup>OR-Fn-T+phiX174</sup>, featuring genetically encoded dual-antigen ferritin arrays and inducible bacterial lysis. Upon oral administration and arabinose induction, the probiotic strain lyses in situ, releasing OVA/TRP2-decorated ferritin nanoparticles that efficiently traverse the intestinal barrier via M-cell targeting and activate mucosal dendritic cells. This platform robustly stimulates CD8<sup>+</sup> and CD4<sup>+</sup> T-cell responses, enhances B-cell and macrophage activation, reduces regulatory T cells, and provides therapeutic efficacy against melanoma in both lung metastasis and subcutaneous tumor models. It also establishes durable immunological memory without disrupting systemic or mucosal homeostasis. This work offers a programmable bacterial chassis for precise antigen array presentation and controlled delivery, representing a promising strategy for next-generation, needle-free cancer vaccines.
Authors
- Xin Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7553-7943)
- Xiyun Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7290-352X)
- Bing Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5389-3293)
- Yale Yue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7487-1832)
- Baohua Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7731-2518)
- Yuanyuan Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4380-0043)
- Dandan Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6893-0616)
Institutions
- Zhengzhou University (CN)
- Henan Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Heilongjiang Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Institute of Biophysics (CN)
- First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66622-x
- Primary Topic
- Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00