Mucosal immunization is advantageous over other routes of antigen delivery because it can induce both mucosal and systemic immune responses. Our goal was to develop a mucosal delivery vehicle based on bacteria generally regarded as safe, such asLactobacillusspp. In this study, we used the Lyme disease mouse model as a proof of concept. We demonstrate that an oral vaccine based on live recombinantLactobacillus plantarumprotects mice from tick-transmittedBorrelia burgdorferiinfection. Our method of expressing vaccine antigens inL. plantaruminduces both systemic and mucosal immunity after oral administration. This platform technology can be applied to design oral vaccine delivery vehicles against several microbial pathogens.

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rapidly increasing and it is one of the significant twenty-first century’s healthcare challenges. Unfortunately, the development of effective antimicrobial agents is a much slower and complex process compared to the spread of AMR. Consequently, the current options in the treatment of AMR are limited. One of the main alternatives to conventional antibiotics is the use of antibody-antibiotic conjugates (AACs). These innovative bioengineered agents take advantage of the selectivity, favorable pharmacokinetic (PK), and safety of antibodies, allowing the administration of more potent antibiotics with less off-target effects. Although AACs’ development is challenging due to the complexity of the three components, namely, the antibody, the antibiotic, and the linker, some successful examples are currently under clinical studies.