Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded the University of Miami's Office of Research Administration—School of Medicine a $457,128 Project Grant (CFDA 93.855: Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) effective July 16, 2026, with completion targeted for June 30, 2031. The project, "Engineered Probiotics as a Strategy to Induce Oral Tolerance to AAV-Delivered Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies," develops designer probiotic strains capable of mitigating host immune responses that limit long-term transgene expression in adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated antibody delivery. The research team will engineer Bifidobacterium longum to secrete immunoadhesins derived from broadly neutralizing antibodies (3BNC117 and 10-1074) and Lactococcus lactis to secrete interleukin-10 to enhance tolerogenic signaling, with the goal of enabling sustained expression of AAV-delivered broadly neutralizing antibodies in both uninfected and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected hosts.

This initiative addresses a critical barrier in HIV therapeutics: anti-drug antibody responses that have previously limited the durability of passive antibody therapies. By inducing antigen-specific oral tolerance through engineered probiotics administered in nonhuman primates, the research aims to prevent and reverse immune rejection of delivered antibodies, potentially advancing functional cure strategies for HIV infection while preserving long-term viral suppression and reservoir elimination demonstrated in prior AAV-mediated delivery studies.