The bacterial ghost platform system
Open Access
- 1 September 2010
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Bioengineered Bugs
- Vol. 1 (5), 326-336
- https://doi.org/10.4161/bbug.1.5.12540
Abstract
The Bacterial Ghost (BG) platform technology is an innovative system for vaccine, drug or active substance delivery and for technical applications in white biotechnology. BGs are cell envelopes derived from Gram-negative bacteria. BGs are devoid of all cytoplasmic content but have a preserved cellular morphology including all cell surface structures. Using BGs as delivery vehicles for subunit or DNA-vaccines the particle structure and surface properties of BGs are targeting the carrier itself to primary antigen-presenting cells. Furthermore, BGs exhibit intrinsic adjuvant properties and trigger an enhanced humoral and cellular immune response to the target antigen. Multiple antigens of the native BG envelope and recombinant protein or DNA antigens can be combined in a single type of BG. Antigens can be presented on the inner or outer membrane of the BG as well as in the periplasm that is sealed during BG formation. Drugs or supplements can also be loaded to the internal lumen or periplasmic space of the carrier. BGs are produced by batch fermentation with subsequent product recovery and purification via tangential flow filtration. For safety reasons all residual bacterial DNA is inactivated during the BG production process by the use of staphylococcal nuclease A and/or the treatment with b-propiolactone. After purification BGs can be stored long-term at ambient room temperature as lyophilized product. The production cycle from the inoculation of the pre-culture to the purified BG concentrate ready for lyophilization does not take longer than a day and thus meets modern criteria of rapid vaccine production rather than keeping large stocks of vaccines. The broad spectrum of possible applications in combination with the comparably low production costs make the BG platform technology a safe and sophisticated product for the targeted delivery of vaccines and active agents as well as carrier of immobilized enzymes for applications in white biotechnology.Keywords
This publication has 88 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effective gene transfer to melanoma cells using bacterial ghostsCancer Letters, 2008
- Recombinant vaccinia/fowlpox NY-ESO-1 vaccines induce both humoral and cellular NY-ESO-1-specific immune responses in cancer patientsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006
- Improved Production and Purification of Minicircle DNA Vector Free of Plasmid Bacterial Sequences and Capable of Persistent Transgene ExpressionIn VivoHuman Gene Therapy, 2005
- Bacterial Ghost Technology for Pesticide DeliveryJournal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2004
- Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-dependent separation of bacterial ghosts from intact cells by FACSCytometry, 2001
- Inactivation of DNA by β-propiolactoneBiologicals, 1995
- Lysis of Escherichia coli after Infection with X174 Depends on the Regulation of the Cellular Autolytic SystemMicrobiology, 1984
- Areas of Adhesion between Wall and Membrane of Escherichia coliJournal of General Microbiology, 1968
- The process of infection with bacteriophage ΦX174: X. Mutations in a ΦX lysis geneJournal of Molecular Biology, 1966
- The process of infection with bacteriophage φX174: III. Phage maturation and lysis after synchronized infectionJournal of Molecular Biology, 1965