TopAct™
Turning Food Bacteria into ActoBiotics™
The TopAct™ technology platform enables the engineering of food-grade bacteria into efficient production and delivery units for therapeutic proteins and peptides; ActoBiotics™.
ActoGeniX has chosen the food bacterium Lactococcus lactis as the preferred microorganism for the application of TopAct™. Lactococcus lactis has been used for thousands of years in preparation of food products such as yoghurt and cheese, and is widely recognized as completely safe for human consumption.
Dr Lothar Steidler, ActoGeniX’s Senior Director Technology Development, pioneered the development of genetically engineered Lactococcus lactis strains for in situ production and delivery of therapeutic proteins and peptides. Dr Steidler has received international recognition and important aspects of his work were published in renowned journals such as Science, Nature Biotechnology and Gastroenterology. Dr Steidler´s scientific breakthrough has been applied by ActoGeniX to create the foundation for a novel biopharmaceutical platform with the potential to revolutionize the treatment of a wide range of diseases.
The TopAct™ technology platform provides an elegant solution for oral delivery of biopharmaceuticals into the gastrointestinal tract, and consist of the following steps:
- Engineering of the therapeutic Lactococcus lactis strain
- Large-scale production
- Formulation into an ActoBiotic™
- Administration of the ActoBiotic™ by the patient
Clearly, this concept of oral therapeutic protein delivery opens exciting possibilities, many of which have already been explored by ActoGeniX's scientists. ActoBiotics™ are able to not only secrete and deliver a wide variety of bioactive cytokines, but also antibody fragments, growth factors, hormones and neuropeptides. Another exciting application is the delivery of antigens or allergens by ActoBiotics™ into the gut, which, in preclinical models, has been shown to induce specific immunotolerance to these antigens.