Biocompatibility of liposomes derived from microbial cells: An assesment towards Nanomedicine applications

The emergence of Nanotechnology in Medicine has resulted in the development of a wide set of nanocarriers. One of the most popular approaches in drug delivery is the use of liposomes, which are self-assembled lipid bilayers. Mammalian-derived liposomes are known to be highly biocompatible. However, the toxicity of liposomes prepared with microbial lipids is still to be clarified. Strains from the genus Mycobacterium are able to induce a high immune response in humans, which is known to involve the responses towards the amphipathic lipids they synthesize, and various reports have proposed the use of mycobacterial liposomes as adjuvants and vaccine boosts. In this work, M. fortuitum and M. tuberculosis lipids were used to produce mycobacterial-derived liposomes, and their physical and chemical characterization, as well as biocompatibility vis-à-vis human cells are addressed.