US 11,037,655 B2Granted

Microbiome-based informed method to formulate live biotherapeutics

AssigneeUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore

InventorsJacques Ravel, Michael France, Lindsay Rutt, Bing Ma

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Abstract

Methods of formulating live biotherapeutics are disclosed in which a deficiency or excess of a specific bacterial strain in a person's microbiome is identified by comparing a gene-specific characterization of the person's microbiome against a comprehensive, non-redundant reference gene catalog, and the biotherapeutic is formulated by selecting bacteria to address the deficiency or excess. Embodiments include the formulation of live biotherapeutics for improving the health of a person's vaginal microbiome, i.e. using a vaginal reference gene catalog, and may be suitable for ameliorating, treating, or preventing a malignancy such as a cancer of the female genitourinary system.

Claims7

Dependent claims

A method for treating bacterial vaginosis in a female human subject, comprising:

(a) generating a gene-specific characterization, at an intraspecies level, of the subject's vaginal microbial community;
(b) comparing the gene-specific characterization to a reference gene catalog of the human vaginal microbiome, wherein the reference gene catalog comprises at least one metagenome or single-strain genome associated with a healthy microbiome;
(c) identifying, based on the comparison of step (b), a deficiency or excess of at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community;
(d) formulating a remedial live biotherapeutic formulation, comprising bacteria adapted to remedy the deficiency or excess of the at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community;
and
(e) administering the remedial live biotherapeutic formulation to the subject,
wherein the bacteria adapted to remedy the deficiency or excess of the at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community comprise a selected strain or consortium of strains of a bacterial species selected from the group consisting of Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Lactobacillus jensenii, and
wherein the bacteria comprise at least one of:
(i) Lactobacillus crispatus bacteria configured to express at least one of the asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene of SEQ ID NO:
1 and the asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene of SEQ ID NO:
2;
and
(ii) Lactobacillus crispatus bacteria containing an asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene encoding at least one of a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
3 and a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
4.

12 more elements

A method for treating bacterial vaginosis in a female human subject, comprising:

(a) generating a gene-specific characterization, at an intraspecies level, of the subject's vaginal microbial community;
(b) comparing the gene-specific characterization to a reference gene catalog of the human vaginal microbiome, wherein the reference gene catalog comprises at least one metagenome or single-strain genome associated with a healthy microbiome;
(c) identifying, based on the comparison of step (b), a deficiency or excess of at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community;
(d) formulating a remedial live biotherapeutic formulation, comprising bacteria adapted to remedy the deficiency or excess of the at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community;
and
(e) administering the remedial live biotherapeutic formulation to the subject, wherein step (a) comprises at least one sub-step selected from the group consisting of:
(i) preprocessing one or more samples by performing at least one additional procedure selected from the group consisting of removing human contaminants from a sample, quality-filtering, and removing ribosomal RNA;
(ii) assembling at least one metagenome from each of one or more samples by executing a procedure to generate one or more de novo assemblies;
(iii) compiling coding DNA sequences (CDSs);
(iv) applying at least one taxonomic annotation by transitive assignment of species name from reads mapping to contigs;
and
(v) applying at least one functional annotation using annotations from one or more functional databases;
wherein the bacteria adapted to remedy the deficiency or excess of the at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community comprise a selected strain or consortium of strains of a bacterial species selected from the group consisting of Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Lactobacillus jensenii, and
wherein the bacteria comprise at least one of:
(i) Lactobacillus crispatus bacteria configured to express the asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene of SEQ ID NO:
1;
and
(ii) Lactobacillus crispatus bacteria containing an asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene encoding at least one of a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
3 and a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
4.

17 more elements

A method for treating bacterial vaginosis in a female human subject, comprising:

(a) generating a gene-specific characterization, at an intraspecies level, of the subject's vaginal microbial community;
(b) comparing the gene-specific characterization to a reference gene catalog of the human vaginal microbiome, wherein the reference gene catalog comprises at least one metagenome or single-strain genome associated with a healthy microbiome;
(c) identifying, based on the comparison of step (b), a deficiency or excess of at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community;
(d) formulating a remedial live biotherapeutic formulation, comprising bacteria adapted to remedy the deficiency or excess of the at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community;
and
(e) administering the remedial live biotherapeutic formulation to the subject,
wherein the bacteria adapted to remedy the deficiency or excess of the at least one bacterial strain in the subject's vaginal microbial community comprise a selected strain or consortium of strains of a bacterial species selected from the group consisting of Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Lactobacillus jensenii;
wherein the bacteria comprise at least one of:
(i) Lactobacillus crispatus bacteria configured to express at least one of the asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene of SEQ ID NO:
1 and the asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene of SEQ. ID NO:
2;
and
(ii) Lactobacillus crispatus bacteria containing an asparagine synthase B (asnB) gene encoding at least one of a polypeptide of SEQ. ID NO:
3 and a polypeptide of SEQ. ID NO:
4;
wherein step (a) comprises at least one sub-step selected from the group consisting of:
(i) preprocessing one or more samples by performing at least one additional procedure selected from the group consisting of removing human contaminants from a sample, quality-filtering, and removing ribosomal RNA;
(ii) assembling at least one metagenome from each of one or more samples by executing a procedure to generate one or more nucleotide based de novo assemblies;
(iii) compiling coding DNA sequences (CDSs);
(iv) applying at least one taxonomic annotation by transitive assignment of species name from reads mapping to contigs;
and
(v) applying at least one functional annotation using annotations from one or more functional databases.

19 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/800,702Filed 25 Feb 2020 · us provisional application
Priority: 16 Oct 2019
Published: US 2020/0227139 A116 Jul 2020
Granted: 15 Jun 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G16B 30/20
ICT specially adapted for sequence analysis involving nucleotides or amino acids: sequence assembly
A61K 35/742
Probiotics: spore-forming bacteria, e.g. Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus subtilis, clostridium or Lactobacillus sporogenes
C12N 9/93
Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof ; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes: ligases
C12Y 603/05004
Carbon-nitrogen ligases with glutamine as amido-N-donor: asparagine synthase