title: Complex Particulate Biomaterials as Immunostimulant-Delivery Platforms.
abstract: The control of infectious diseases is a major current challenge in intensive aquaculture. Most commercial vaccines are based on live attenuated or inactivated pathogens that are usually combined with adjuvants, oil emulsions being as the most widely used for vaccination in aquaculture. Although effective, the use of these oil emulsions is plagued with important side effects. Thus, the development of alternative safer and cost-effective immunostimulants and adjuvants is highly desirable. Here we have explored the capacity of inclusion bodies produced in bacteria to immunostimulate and protect fish against bacterial infections. Bacterial inclusion bodies are highly stable, non-toxic protein-based biomaterials produced through fully scalable and low-cost bio-production processes. The present study shows that the composition and structured organization of inclusion body components (protein, lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, DNA and RNA) make these protein biomaterials excellent immunomodulators able to generically protect fish against otherwise lethal bacterial challenges. The results obtained in this work provide evidence that their inherent nature makes bacterial inclusion bodies exceptionally attractive as immunostimulants and this opens the door to the future exploration of this biomaterial as an alternative adjuvant for vaccination purposes in veterinary.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, Fisiologia Animal i Immunologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
authors.forename: Débora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Torrealba
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
authors.forename: Joaquin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seras-Franzoso
authors.affiliation: Division of Structural Biochemistry, Priority Area Asthma & Allergy, Research Center Borstel, Airway Research Center North (ARCN), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Borstel, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mamat
authors.affiliation: Division of Structural Biochemistry, Priority Area Asthma & Allergy, Research Center Borstel, Airway Research Center North (ARCN), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Borstel, Germany.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wilke
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villaverde
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, Fisiologia Animal i Immunologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
authors.forename: Nerea
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roher
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.|CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7498-4864
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Garcia-Fruitós
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture / Q000379:methods; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry*; D002460:Cell Line; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D005399:Fishes; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000276:immunology; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D014765:Viral Vaccines