BigDNA phage vaccines:
BigDNA’s patented technology allows us to produce vaccines that are cheap to produce, stable for easy transport and storage, allow rapid development and production of new vaccines, and have the potential to be delivered by the oral route.
Phage vaccines offer an alternative to conventional vaccines, in that they use bacteriophages to deliver DNA vaccines.
Bacteriophages
Bacteriophages (or phages) are essentially viruses, which infect bacteria. It is important to note that phages are distinct from human viruses. They cannot infect humans or other animals, only their bacterial hosts. In our case our proprietary phage can only infect/grow on a special modified laboratory strain. As phages are found wherever there are bacteria, the human body already contains billions of different phages as part of its normal ecosystem. There are therefore very safe to use but are very cheap and easy to produce using simple techniques.
Bacteriophage DNA vaccination
BigDNA’s technology is called bacteriophage DNA vaccination. This uses the combined benefits of phages and DNA vaccines in a process where the phage's genetic material is altered in order to contain a DNA vaccine. Whole phage particles are then used to vaccinate the host. Phage vaccines have many advantages over standard DNA vaccines. The body of the phage protects the vaccine, making them more stable for storage and transport. Phages are also quick, easy and cheap to produce. In experiments performed in our lab, comparing phage vaccines to standard DNA vaccines, phage vaccines have consistently given immune responses which are higher and less variable than those produced with standard DNA vaccines.
For further information on our technology please refer to our recent publications.