Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41831691›Full record

ArticleJournal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society2026

Optimizing genetic engineering approaches for protein loading into bacterial extracellular vesicles for vaginal drug delivery.

Darby Steinman, Varunaa Sri Hemanth Kumar, Ryan A McIlvaine, Pranshu Tyagi, Hahnbit Kang, Raifah Alam, Anguo Liu, Christopher M Jewell, Amy Plotkin, Irina Burd and 2 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Darby SteinmanFischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Varunaa Sri Hemanth KumarFischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Ryan A McIlvaineFischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Pranshu TyagiDepartment of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Hahnbit KangDepartment of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Raifah AlamFischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Anguo LiuDepartment of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Christopher M JewellRobert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Maryland Health Care System, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Amy PlotkinMarlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Anatomic Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA.
Irina BurdDepartment of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Sara MolinariFischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: saramol@umd.edu.
Hannah C ZierdenFischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: hzierden@umd.edu.

Funding

Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational ResearchUM1TR004926 · NCATS · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI STEPHEN N. DAVIS, Daniel Ernest Ford · 2024 to 2026
$28.5M
Zeiss LSM 880 Airyscan Fast Laser Scanning ConfocalS10OD025223 · OD · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI BEAVEN, AMY · 2019 to 2019
$557k
NCATS NIH HHS UM1 TR004926NIH HHS S10 OD025223
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There is a critical gap in the development of new therapeutic platforms designed to treat gynecologic and obstetric diseases. Compared to systemic drug delivery, vaginal administration of nanoparticle formulations limits off-target side effects while increasing therapeutic concentration in target tissues, showing promise for clinical translation. However, these formulations suffer from limited scalability, high-cost reagents, and long optimization timelines. Recent work highlights the potential of bacterial extracellular vesicles (bEVs) as a low-cost, tunable platform for therapeutic applications. Here, we evaluate bEVs as a therapeutic carrier for vaginal drug delivery. We demonstrate the loading of the model protein moxNeonGreen into Escherichia coli Nissle 1917-derived bEVs. By optimizing growth parameters, we increase protein loading into bEVs. We evaluate the effect of bEVs on the vaginal microenvironment, and observe no negative impact on vaginal epithelial cells, endocervical cells, or vaginal bacteria in vitro. Additionally, we observe the retention of bEVs in the murine female reproductive tract for more than six hours. This study provides a framework for using genetically engineered bEVs to rapidly generate customizable therapies for a range of gynecologic and obstetric conditions, addressing longstanding challenges in women's health therapeutics.

Indexed as

Drug CarriersDrug Delivery SystemsEscherichia coliExtracellular VesiclesGenetic EngineeringVaginaAdministration, IntravaginalAnimalsEpithelial CellsFemaleHumansDrug CarriersBacterial extracellular vesiclesGenetic engineeringVaginal drug delivery

Identifiers

PMID41831691
PMCPMC13501333

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.