SHENZHEN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have engineered "smart living glue," which is composed of programmed bacteria that can navigate the gut, automatically find internal wounds and patch them up. This strategy offers a novel targeted treatment approach for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The research, published on Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology, details how a team from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology and Shenzhen University, both located in south China's Guangdong Province, managed to modify a harmless strain of E. coli, which is a common gut bacterium.
They engineered the E. coli with a gene circuit that is activated specifically by blood, a key indicator of severe IBD flare-ups involving mucosal injury and bleeding.
Once activated, the bacteria secrete a sticky protein similar to that derived from barnacles -- small sea creatures renowned for their powerful, tenacious adhesion to surfaces like rocks and ship hulls. The secreted protein forms a durable "seal" precisely at the bleeding site, while simultaneously releasing a healing factor to repair the gut lining, according to the study.
"The engineered microbes are cultured in liquid and orally administered. Once activated in the gut, they form a film-like morphology that adheres to specific bleeding sites, where they help stop bleeding and repair damage," said Zhong Chao, the study's corresponding author.
A single rectal or oral administration allowed the bacteria to adhere to inflamed tissues for up to 10 days or 7 days, respectively, while in two mouse models, the therapy also demonstrated improved weight recovery, reversed colonic shortening and reduced intestinal bleeding.
This approach addresses a major challenge, namely the ability to make therapeutics stick and act locally in the wet, dynamic environment of the gut, the researchers revealed.
The team is planning to advance the "living glue" towards clinical studies, potentially providing a new targeted therapy for bowel disease patients. ■
