bims-livmat 2025-10-12 papers

Sci Adv. 2025 Oct 10. 11(41): eadw8278

Bacterially grown living materials with resistant and on-demand functionality.

Jeong-Joo Oh, Franka H van der Linden, Koray Malcı, Ramon A van der Valk, Tom Ellis, Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam.

Inspired by naturally occurring biomaterials, autonomously grown engineered living materials (ELMs) feature cell-driven growth and programmable biological functions. However, the "livingness" of cells poses a short life span and low tolerance to harsh conditions, limiting the practical use of such materials. Here, we developed materials with programmable and dormant functionalities, grown from a mixture of Komagataeibacter rhaeticus and Bacillus endospores under engineered medium conditions. K. rhaeticus produces the bacterial cellulose (BC) matrix that integrates Bacillus spores within, whereas the confined spores keep dormant and are resistant to harsh conditions in the environment. Bacillus spores can germinate and confer desired functions to the materials. Modulating the binding affinity of spores to the BC matrix with genetic engineering can improve cell loading and therefore enhance the material functionality. These materials can serve as a versatile on-demand platform for applications as biosensors, biocatalytic materials, and in situ transformation of mechanically robust cellulose-based composites.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw8278

Food Res Int. 2025 Nov;pii: S0963-9969(25)01470-X. [Epub ahead of print]220 117132

Recent advances in stimuli-responsive oral delivery systems for controlled release of probiotics: A review.

Miao Zheng, Haifu Jia, Manyan Qiu, Xinyan Yang, Xianlong Zhang, Qianyu Zhao, Yujun Jiang.

Oral probiotics are recognized as a safe and convenient therapy that offers both preventive and therapeutic effects for various diseases, including diarrhea, colon cancer, obesity, diabetes, and inflammation. However, protecting probiotics during their delivery and ensuring their successful arrival at the target site is crucial. Currently, probiotic encapsulation technology is widely used to protect probiotics from the harsh conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, enhance their intestinal adhesion, and improve their functionality. Based on this, various probiotic delivery systems with distinct triggering mechanisms (such as pH, mucosal adhesion, time, redox, and enzymes) have been successfully developed. These systems effectively deliver a substantial quantity of highly active probiotics to the intestine, increasing their oral bioavailability. This review comprehensively summarizes the relevant literature on probiotic stimulus-responsive release and discusses how various stimuli can trigger the release of probiotics from carriers at specific locations. Additionally, we explore the characteristics of probiotic release, including controlled release, sustained release, and targeted release, while discussing their potential applications in treating various diseases. Moreover, this review discusses various strategies and methods for constructing stimulus-responsive delivery systems based on probiotic carrier structures. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future prospects of probiotic stimulus-responsive delivery. Collectively, probiotic stimulus-responsive delivery systems demonstrate significant potential for enhancing the delivery and efficacy of probiotics in treating various diseases. Ongoing research and development in this field could lead to innovative and targeted therapies for specific diseases.

Keywords: Controlled release; Delivery system; Probiotics; Stimuli-responsive

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2025.117132

Biomater Sci. 2025 Oct 07.

Bacteria biohybrids integrating anticancer peptide-loaded nanoparticles for tumor immunotherapy through pyroptosis activation.

Shiyi Chen, Xunping Ouyang, Xue Wei, Gang He, Yiwen Xian, Chong Zhang, Decheng Wu.

Developing bacterial-based biohybrid systems that effectively integrate tumor-targeting, immune modulation, and advanced drug delivery remains a major challenge in cancer therapy. This is primarily due to the complexities of achieving selective tumor colonization, overcoming immune clearance mechanisms, and ensuring controlled drug release within the tumor microenvironment. Here, we introduce P/L@EcN, a bacteria biohybrid system that conjugates ROS-responsive, ruxotemitide (LTX-315)-loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PEG-PLGA) nanoparticles (P/L-NPs) with the tumor-targeting probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) via copper-free azide-alkyne click chemistry. This hybrid system exhibits enhanced tumor accumulation, improved cellular uptake, and deep tumor penetration, while effectively inducing pyroptosis through caspase-1-dependent pathways. In an in vivo orthotopic breast cancer model, P/L@EcN enhanced anti-tumor immunity by remodeling the tumor microenvironment, promoting the macrophage M1/M2 ratio, and reducing myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), ultimately achieving significant tumor growth suppression without systemic toxicity. Together, these findings establish P/L@EcN as a promising biohybrid immunotherapy strategy that integrates bacterial-mediated targeting with immune activation, offering a powerful approach for cancer treatment.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d5bm00667h