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Updated: Feb 9, 2026
06:44
Vibrio cholerae: Model Organism to Study Bacterial Pathogenesis - Interview
Published on: May 28, 2007
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Sublingual Adjuvant Delivery by a Live Attenuated Vibrio cholerae-Based Antigen Presentation Platform
Julie Liao1, Jacob A Gibson1, Bradley S Pickering2
1Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Msphere
|June 8, 2018
Summary
This study developed a novel vaccine platform using live, weakened Vibrio cholerae bacteria for sublingual delivery. The platform enhances mucosal immunity against diarrheal diseases by presenting antigens and a mucosal adjuvant, improving vaccine effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology and Immunology
- Vaccine Development
- Infectious Disease Research
Background:
- Diarrheal diseases pose a significant global health challenge, particularly in children.
- Current vaccine strategies often require antigen purification, increasing complexity and cost.
- A whole-cell bacterial platform for sublingual antigen delivery offers a promising alternative.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engineer a live attenuated *Vibrio cholerae* vaccine platform for sublingual delivery of heterologous antigens.
- To evaluate the immunogenicity of the platform when co-delivering a mucosal adjuvant (mmCT) with antigens.
- To assess the potential of this platform for developing subunit vaccines against diarrheal diseases without protein purification.
Main Methods:
- Genetic fusion of antigens (R-CTB) to *V. cholerae* biofilm protein (RbmA) for cell surface display.
- Engineering live attenuated *V. cholerae* to express multiply mutated cholera toxin (mmCT) as a mucosal adjuvant.
- Sublingual administration of the engineered *V. cholerae* vaccine in proof-of-concept studies.
Main Results:
- Sublingual delivery of R-CTB-decorated *V. cholerae* elicited a mucosal immune response to CTB.
- Co-administration of mmCT enhanced mucosal immune responses to *V. cholerae* LPS and elicited systemic/mucosal responses to CTB.
- However, co-delivery of R-CTB with mmCT selectively reduced the mucosal immune response to CTB.
Conclusions:
- The engineered live attenuated *V. cholerae* platform effectively presents antigens and acts as a mucosal adjuvant via sublingual delivery.
- mmCT can enhance mucosal immunity for codelivered antigens, but antigen similarity may influence efficacy.
- This platform holds potential for developing simplified, effective vaccines against diarrheal diseases.
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