Oral Immunization with Recombinant Lactobacillus plantarumInduces a Protective Immune Response in Mice with Lyme Disease

ABSTRACTMucosal 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 as Lactobacillusspp. In this study, we used the Lyme disease mouse model as a proof of concept. We demonstrate that an oral vaccine based on live recombinant Lactobacillus plantarumprotects mice from tick-transmitted Borrelia burgdorferiinfection. Our method of expressing vaccine antigens in L. 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.