Probiotic Bacteria as a Functional Delivery Vehicle for the Development of Live Oral Vaccines

Probiotics improve the immune system and help to fight with different infection. The LAB ability in eliciting the immune response against foreign antigens has led to their use as candidate vectors for mucosal vaccines. Here, the use of LAB as oral vaccine carriers and various expression systems intended to the production of heterologous proteins are reviewed and discussed. Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus strains, and Streptococcus gordonii are lactic acid bacteria (LAB) currently being advocated for use as live antigen delivery vehicles to mucosal sites. Since these vehicles differ in their life span and mode of antigen delivery within the small intestine, in this chapter we tried to determine the promising LAB candidates for the development of oral vaccines.