Lactococcus Lactis Simultaneously Displaying Protein Binders of Tumor Associated Antigens and Proinflammatory Cytokines for Targeted Therapy of Colorectal Cancer
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Lactococcus lactis simultaneously displaying protein binders of tumor associated antigens and proinflammatory cytokines for targeted therapy of colorectal cancer P05.214 A. ZahirovićI, T.V. PlavecI, A. BerlecI IDepartment of Biotechnology, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia Proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and IL8 promote the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). The delivery of cytokine binding proteins into the gut using tumortargeted safe probiotic lactic acid bacteria as a vector might represent an alternative therapeutic approach in inflammation associated CRC. We engineered six Lactococcus lactis strains to simultaneously display a combination of small protein binder of tumorassociated antigen (HER2 binding affibody or EpCambinding affitin) and a binder of proinflammatory cytokine (IL6binding affibody, TNFαbinding affibody or IL8binding evasin) on their surface. Surface display of two proteins was achieved by cloning the genes into a lactococcal plasmid for dual protein expression (constructed by doubling nisin promoter). Protein binders were fused to Usp secretion signal and AcmA anchor to enable their attachment onto the surface. The expression of HER/EpCambinding ligands was confirmed by Western blot or flow cytometry. The functionality of cytokinebinding moieties on the bacterial surface was demonstrated by testing their ability to bind cytokines using ELISA. Engineered bacteria sequestered 80100% of the corresponding cytokine spiked into the solution, whereby L. lactis displaying IL6binding affibody proved the most efficient. Furthermore, engineered bacteria were cocultured with immunostimulated cancer cells and showed that it is able to bind cytokines released in the culture medium. Strains displaying IL8binding evasin removed 6065% of IL8 secreted by Caco2 and 5862% of IL8 secreted by HT29 colorectal cancer cells. Strain displaying IL6binding affibody removed 9294% of IL6 secreted by human monocytic THP1 cells (undifferentiated and differentiated) and up to 96% of IL6 secreted by myeloid leukaemia U937 cells. Adhesion of engineered bacteria to Caco2 cells is currently being tested to assess their tumortargeting capacity..