Lactic Acid Bacteria as Vehicle for Anthrax Vaccine

Filed in archive Microbiology on February 24, 2009

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Researchers have discovered that lactic acid bacteria, commonly found in dairy products, can also be used as a vehicle for an oral vaccine against anthrax, and possibly other types of viruses and pathogens. According to the researchers, "the acid tolerant lactic acid bacteria can act like an "EZ Pass," delivering the anthrax vaccine through the stomach and releasing it into the small intestine".

There, the vaccine targets the first line of immune cells - dendritic cells - that can trigger the mucosal immune system to respond to and elicit protection against anthrax. In the study, the oral vaccine worked about as well as a vaccine delivered by needle, the standard way of inoculating living things from viruses and pathogens.

The study has been published online in the Feb. 16, 2009 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.