Developing treatments without side effects
“No active drug without Nanocillus – No side effects with Nanocillus!” read the poster of the 2016 Freiburg iGEM Team, who brought home gold for the ninth year in a row. The sixteen students from four faculties of the University of Freiburg began working on their idea to use bacterial spores to reduce the side effects of medical treatments in April this year. The team, which was sponsored by BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies, was presented with a gold medal at the final ceremony. The iGEM, which stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine, is the world’s largest research competition for students of synthetic biology. The competition was first held by the University of Boston, the University of Austin (Texas), the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton University in 2004. Since then, the number of teams has continued to grow, with 300 teams competing in this year’s twelfth iGEM. As the competition has grown larger, so has its reach, and teams from all over the world met in Boston at the end of the “iGEM year” to celebrate their success and take home awards and prizes in different categories.
The Freiburg team’s project this year was named "Nanocillus – 'cause spore is more!" The team developed genetically modified spores that carry two different components on their surface. One of these components consists of a so-called nanobody, also known as a single-domain antibody, which is anchored to a protein on the spore surface. Through these single-domain antibodies, the spores bind to a preselected antigen. The second component is an enzyme that is also anchored to a protein on the spore surface. This enzyme is responsible for activating the active substance in drugs, because many medications are administered in their inactive form, the prodrug. In most treatments, the prodrug is metabolized in the liver, from which it then spreads throughout the entire body. However, because the active drug is dispersed via the circulation system, healthy tissue is also affected, causing most known side effects.
One possible application for the team’s system is the treatment of ulcerative colitis. This chronic intestinal condition leads to recurring infections in the colon. The nanobody-carrying spore can recognize these inflamed areas and bind to them. After a spore binds to one of these areas, the patient ingests the prodrug, which then becomes activated by the enzyme on the spore surface when the prodrug and spore meet in the colon. In this way, the Freiburg Team was able to create a system that avoids the medication being metabolized in the liver and circulated throughout the entire body.
The 2016 Freiburg iGEM Team was advised and instructed by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schamel, Dr. Maximilian Ulbrich and Dr. Nicole Gensch from BIOSS and Dr. Adrian Fischer and Luisa Keilholz from previous iGEM teams. BIOSS also provided financial support and the use of rooms, materials and equipment.
For pictures and more information about the competition in Boston:
http://2016.igem.org/Team:Freiburg
Contact:
Blog entry about the project:
http://scilogs.spektrum.de/signalblog/nanocillus-cause-spore-is-more/
