Engineered probiotics for safe and targeted cancer vaccines

This technology is an engineered bacterium that produces and delivers tumor-specific neoantigens directly to tumor sites to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses for cancer immunotherapy and therapeutic cancer vaccines.

Unmet Need: Cancer vaccines with durable immune response within immunosuppressive tumor

Therapeutic cancer vaccines have shown promise but have struggled to generate strong and durable immune responses in patients with solid tumors. While tumor neoantigens are attractive vaccine targets because they are unique to cancer cells and reduce the risk of autoimmunity, current vaccine platforms often fail to deliver or present these targets effectively. As a result, many cancer vaccines have shown limited clinical benefit despite strong preclinical potential. Improved strategies are needed to better stimulate selective and sustained anti-tumor immune responses in patients.

The Technology: Engineered bacteria for localized, stable tumor antigen delivery

This technology utilizes a strain of Escherichia coli that can preferentially localize to the hypoxic and necrotic regions commonly found in solid tumors. The bacteria are engineered to improve the stability and accumulation of tumor neoantigens by removing bacterial degradation proteins that would otherwise destroy these antigens. In addition, the platform expresses listeriolysin O (LLO), a protein that enhances cytosolic antigen release, thereby strengthening the activation of cancer-killing immune cells. Together, these features allow the bacteria to function as localized delivery vehicles for tumor antigens and support the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines.

Efficacy and tolerability were demonstrated in murine models of colorectal carcinoma and melanoma.

Applications:

• Cancer vaccine
• Immunotherapy for cancer treatment
• Tumor neoantigen delivery and research models
• Potential applications in inflammatory, infectious, metabolic, and other disease areas

Advantages:

• Targeted delivery to tumors
• Localized therapeutics
• Modular platform design
• Sustained antigen delivery, minimal dosage

Lead Inventor:

Tal Danino, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending (WO/2024/216073)

Related Publications:

• Yang Z, Im J, Chen N, Mariuzza DL, Alexis K, Li D, Danino T, Arpaia N. “Engineered probiotics for tumor-targeted combination chemoimmunotherapy.” bioRxiv. 2026 Feb 7.

• Windemuth S, Adapa A, Komaranchath M, Im J, Amini M, Leong K, Danino T. “Probiotics engineered for specificity and reduced immunogenicity improve survival in a glioma model.” Neuro-Oncology. 2025 Nov 11; 27(5): 173.

• Redenti A, Im J, Redenti B, Li F, Rouanne M, Sheng Z, Sun W, Gurbatri CR, Huang S, Komaranchath M, Jang Y, Hahn J, Ballister ER, Vincent RL, Vardoshivili, Danino T, Arpaia N. “Probiotic neoantigen delivery vectors for precision cancer immunotherapy.” Nature. 2024 Oct 16; 635(8038): 453-461.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU25192

• Licensing Contact: Cynthia Lang