Programmable Biohybrid Probiotics with Long‐Term Storage Stability for Enhanced Intestinal Microbiota Regulation and Ulcerative Colitis Treatment
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with limited therapeutic options and high relapse rates. Live bacterial therapeutics (LBTs) offer a promising alternative by restoring mucosal integrity, modulating immunity, and rebalancing gut microbiota; however, their clinical translation is constrained by poor storage stability, low gastrointestinal survivability, and limited therapeutic functionality. Here, we report a multilevel, modular encapsulation strategy that integrates a metal-polyphenol network (MPN) and silica-based shell with iron-based metal-organic framework (MIL-101(Fe)) nanocomponents to construct a biohybrid probiotic system (Bif@FCSM(A), where "A" denotes 5-aminosalicylic acid). This hierarchical assembly forms an oxygen-shielding, mechanically reinforced shell, resulting in a 41-fold improvement in aerobic storage stability and an 871-fold enhancement in gastric survivability of the anaerobe Bifidobacterium longum. Incorporation of MIL-101(Fe) enables high-capacity drug loading and inflammation-responsive disassembly via transferrin (Tf)-mediated Fe<sup>3</sup> <sup>+</sup> chelation in inflamed colonic tissue, thereby achieving spatiotemporally controlled bacterial activation and drug release. Guided by UC transcriptomic signatures, this combinatorial design concurrently targets immune dysregulation and microbial imbalance. In a dextran sulfate sodium-induced murine UC model, Bif@FCSM(A) markedly alleviated disease severity, suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokines, restored mucosal immune homeostasis, and enriched short-chain fatty acid-producing taxa. This work establishes a programmable, pathology-responsive probiotic platform with translational potential for complex inflammatory diseases.
Authors
- Quhuan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6133-3114)
- Hailin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6924-9689)
- Junxian Yang
- Qi Lei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3087-8897)
- Liang Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2823-2116)
- Kaisheng Liu
- Jiani Jiang
- Wei Zhu
- Xia Zhang
- Zhouping Tian
- Jiangyan Dong
Institutions
- Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
- Southern Medical University Shenzhen Hospital (CN)
- Shenzhen Second People's Hospital (CN)
- South China University of Technology (CN)
- Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2026-02-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202512736
- Primary Topic
- Gut microbiota and health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00