Edible algae based vaccination is a
vaccination strategy under preliminary research to combine a genetically engineered
sub-unit vaccine and an immunologic adjuvant into Chlamydomonas reinhardtii micro
algae. Microalgae can be
freeze-dried and administered orally.[1] While
spirulina is accepted as safe to consume,[2] edible algal vaccines remain under
basic research with unconfirmed safety and efficacy as of 2018.[3]
In 2003, the first documented algal-based vaccine antigen was reported, consisting of a
foot-and-mouth diseaseantigen complexed with the
cholera toxin subunit B, which delivered the antigen to digestion
mucosal surfaces in mice. The vaccine was grown in C. reinhardtii algae and provided oral vaccination in mice, but was hindered by low vaccine antigen expression levels.[4]
Proteins expressed inside the
chloroplast of algae (the most common site of genetic engineering and protein production) do not undergo
glycosylation, a form of
posttranslational modification. Glycosylation of proteins that are not naturally modified like the
malaria vaccine candidate pfs25 can occur in common expression systems like
yeast.[5]