Microalgae Extracellular Vesicles (MEVs) are molecular structures which exist on the surface of microalgae. In this presentation, Manuel Vega, CEO at AGS therapeutics explained how these tiny structures offer a unique method of delivering small and large molecules into the body while avoiding exposure in the blood.
AGS’s microalgae of choice is Chlorella, a fresh water, unicellular, haploid, green algae that has lived on this planet for over two billion years. Vega explained how using AGS’s Exo loading process, virtually any molecular payload including RNAs, ASOs, proteins, and peptides, can be loaded into MEVs for targeted delivery into the human body.
When MEVs are administered intratracheally, they migrate to the lungs where they stay for several days. When MEVs are given orally, they travel to the intestine and are later found in the spleen, bypassing the liver. This means MEVs are able to enter the enterocytes the digestive tract without going systemic. Furthermore, when administered intranasally, MEVs are able to enter the brain via olfactory neurons and migrate all-throughout the brain.
Vega then walked us through the unique potential that MEVs possess for the delivery of vaccines. He explained there were three points which make them particularly suited for this.
First, when MEVs are administered intramuscularly, they can generate a humoral immune response against the payload. In doing so, the vesicles also induce an isotope switching from IgG to IgA, with a significant increase in IgA levels, important for mucosal immunity.
Second, from oral administration, the vesicles are internalised by dendritic cells and macrophages in the gut and then migrate to the spleen a few hours later. Therefore, AGS’s oral delivery technology is able to pass through the stomach and eventually be expressed by enterocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells in the spleen without being exposed in the blood.
Finally, MEVs are able to activate toll-like receptors (TLRs) inside cells. Vega’s team are still investigating the exact mechanism by which the MEVs are able to do this, but it offers a unique way to modulate innate immunity.