Sleator RD. Designer probiotics: Development and applications in gastrointestinal health. World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol 2015; 6(3): 73-78 [PMID: 26301121 DOI: 10.4291/wjgp.v6.i3.73]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Roy D Sleator, Senior Lecturer and PI, Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland. roy.sleator@cit.ie
Research Domain of This Article
Microbiology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. Aug 15, 2015; 6(3): 73-78 Published online Aug 15, 2015. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v6.i3.73
Designer probiotics: Development and applications in gastrointestinal health
Roy D Sleator
Roy D Sleator, Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland
Author contributions: Sleator RD conceived of the idea and wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Roy D Sleator, Senior Lecturer and PI, Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland. roy.sleator@cit.ie
Telephone: +353-21-4335405
Received: March 11, 2015 Peer-review started: March 12, 2015 First decision: April 13, 2015 Revised: April 23, 2015 Accepted: July 11, 2015 Article in press: July 14, 2015 Published online: August 15, 2015
Abstract
Given the increasing commercial and clinical relevance of probiotics, improving their stress tolerance profile and ability to overcome the physiochemical defences of the host is an important biological goal. Herein, I review the current state of the art in the design of engineered probiotic cultures, with a specific focus on their utility as therapeutics for the developing world; from the treatment of chronic and acute enteric infections, and their associated diarrhoeal complexes, to targeting HIV and application as novel mucosal vaccine delivery vehicles.
Core tip: Genetically engineered probiotic bacteria, with improved in vivo stress survival and persistence, have the potential to enhance, and in some instances replace, conventional prophylactic and therapeutic measures. This is particularly relevant in the developing world, where chronic and acute infections, and their associated sequelae impose a significant clinical and economic burden.
