Therapeutic Potential of Biofilm-Derived Bacterial Extracellular Vesicles

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dc.contributor.authorRojas, Mateo
dc.contributor.authorNowak, Raith
dc.contributor.authorJay, Steven
dc.date.accessioned2026-04-23T19:25:31Z
dc.date.issued2026-04-18
dc.descriptionInflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects millions of people in the U.S. While live probiotics have demonstrated some clinical efficacy, they are hindered by their poor viability and long-term gut colonization. Bacteria-derived extracellular vesicles (bEVs) have emerged as a potential alternative therapy. bEVs are lipid nanoparticles produced by the bacteria and endogenously loaded with a wide variety of proteins, lipid, nucleic acid, and metabolite cargos representative of their producer stain. Unlike live-probiotics, bEVs are not limited by viability or their ability to stably colonize the gut, providing a unique treatment opportunity. While recent studies have demonstrated pre-clinical efficacy in the treatment of colitis, bEV potency remains low. Notably, live-probiotic therapies displayed enhanced efficacy when cultured and delivered in a biofilm versus planktonic state- potentially due to commensal bacteria in the gut typically growing as a biofilm. Current bEV production techniques have also relied on planktonically cultured bacteria. As a result, we hypothesize that bEVs derived from biofilm-cultured Lactic acid bacteria will exhibit enhanced efficacy in the treatment of IBD compared to planktonic cultures. To test this, bEVs from Lactiplantibacillus planterum and Limosilactobacillus reuteri were isolated from both biofilm and planktonic growth conditions, and evaluated in macrophage-based inflammatory assays. Biofilm-derived bEVs demonstrated conserved cellular uptake (>90% in RAW264.7 cells). The use of biofilm-derived bEVs also reduced TNF-α expression levels expressed by lipopolysaccharide stimulated macrophages by up to 80%, and in some cases restored TNF-α expression to baseline levels. Meanwhile, their planktonic counterparts and dexamethasone- a clinically used anti-inflammatory small molecule drug- only reduced TNF-α levels by 30-50%. These findings suggest that biofilm-based culture strategies may enhance the therapeutic potency of probiotic bEVs, supporting their development as a potential future treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, and similar inflammation-related conditions.
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/a4x6-8ruj
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/35266
dc.language.isoen
dc.relation.isAvailableAtDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md)
dc.rightsCC0 1.0 Universalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
dc.subjectVesicle
dc.subjectExtracellular Vesicle
dc.subjectEV
dc.subjectBacteria
dc.subjectbEV
dc.subjectBacterial EV
dc.subjectBiofilm
dc.subjectIBD
dc.subjectInflammatory Bowel Disease
dc.subjectProbiotic
dc.subjectTherapeutic
dc.subjectDrug Delivery
dc.subjectImmunoengineering
dc.titleTherapeutic Potential of Biofilm-Derived Bacterial Extracellular Vesicles
dc.typePresentation

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