Development of a delivery system for the targeted release of nanobodies in the gut

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are exceptionally common, with half of all Australian women and one in 20 men afflicted at least once in their lifetime. UTIs arise when uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) make their way from the gut reservoir into the urinary tract via faecal cross-contamination. Antibiotics eliminate UPEC from the bladder but not from the gut, and the surviving bacteria in the gut grow and again ascend into the bladder, causing another UTI. While UPEC commensally colonise the gut, UPEC form dense bacterial aggregates called biofilms in extracellular and intracellular niches in the urinary tract that can also act as a source of recurrent UTIs after antibiotic therapy. Clearly, there is an urgent need for nonantibiotic therapeutics that act in the gut to deplete it of UPEC to prevent recurrent UTIs. We have begun to address this gap by generating a panel of 10 nanobodie