Laguna Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Laguna), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on novel live bacterial therapeutics, today announced the publication of foundational research in mBio, a premier journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The peer-reviewed study details the development and preclinical validation of Laguna's proprietary Quadruple Attenuated Intracellular Listeria (QUAIL) platform, demonstrating its ability to deliver potent anti-tumor immunity with a significantly enhanced safety profile.

The publication, titled "Reprogramming Listeria monocytogenes flavin metabolism to improve its therapeutic safety profile and broaden innate T-cell activation", outlines how researchers genetically manipulated Listeria's flavin metabolism to prevent extracellular bacterial growth. By deleting the ribC and ribF genes - in addition to standard actA and inlB deletions - the QUAIL strain is unable to grow extracellularly in the bloodstream or on vascular catheters. This restriction dramatically improves safety and limits toxicity while maintaining robust intracellular immunoprotective properties.

Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the QUAIL platform can be selectively programmed to synthesize riboflavin, leading to the targeted expansion and activation of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, a powerful subset of innate-like T cells.

"This publication in mBio is a testament to the rigorous, foundational science that drives Laguna and our QUAIL platform," said Jonathan Kotula, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Laguna. "Historically, a key challenge for live bacterial vectors has been balancing potent immune activation with systemic safety. By reprogramming the metabolic dependencies of Listeria, we have created a vector that is functionally restricted from growing in the bloodstream yet remains highly effective at engaging the immune system from within the host cell. The QUAIL platform provides us with a remarkably safe and programmable engine to activate innate effectors like MAIT and γδ T cells, unlocking new therapeutic possibilities for cancer patients."

The study concludes that QUAIL represents a highly promising therapeutic platform that overcomes the limitations of earlier generations of Listeria-based therapies, laying the groundwork for safer, more potent clinical applications. QUAIL serves as the backbone for Laguna's lead clinical candidate, LGNA-100, which is designed to expand and activate endogenous γδ T cells for the treatment of high-risk pediatric leukemias.

The full manuscript is available in the February 11, 2026, issue of mBio (DOI: 10.1128/mbio.03652-25).

About Laguna Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Laguna)

Laguna is a privately funded, clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in San Francisco, CA with research labs in Siena, Italy. It is focused on developing novel therapeutics that leverage Lm to activate and expand the immune system to create impactful treatments across oncology, as well as inflammatory and infectious disease.