Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 bacterial ghosts retain crucial surface properties and express chlamydial antigen: an imaging study of a delivery system for the ocular surface.

ABSTRACT: To target chronic inflammatory ocular surface diseases, a drug delivery platform is needed that is safe, possesses immunomodulatory properties, and can be used either for drug delivery, or as a foreign antigen carrier. A new therapeutic approach that we have previously proposed uses nonliving bacterial ghosts (BGs) as a carrier-delivery system which can be engineered to carry foreign antigens and/or be loaded with therapeutic drugs. The parent strain chosen for development of our BG delivery system is the probiotic Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 (EcN), whose intrinsic properties trigger the innate immune system with the flagella and fimbriae used to attach and stimulate epithelial cells. In previous studies, we have shown that EcN BGs are safe for the ocular surface route, but evidenc

SUBMITTER: Montanaro J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4516183 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature