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In Vitro Pre-Clinical Evaluation of a Gonococcal Trivalent Candidate Vaccine Identified by Transcriptomics

Roe, Shea K
Felter, Brian
Zheng, Bo
Ram, Sanjay
Wetzler, Lee M
Garges, Eric
Zhu, Tianmou
Genco, Caroline A
Massari, Paola
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Abstract

Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease caused by , poses a significant global public health threat. Infection in women can be asymptomatic and may result in severe reproductive complications. Escalating antibiotic resistance underscores the need for an effective vaccine. Approaches being explored include subunit vaccines and outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), but an ideal candidate remains elusive. Meningococcal OMV-based vaccines have been associated with reduced rates of gonorrhea in retrospective epidemiologic studies, and with accelerated gonococcal clearance in mouse vaginal colonization models. Cross-protection is attributed to shared antigens and possibly cross-reactive, bactericidal antibodies. Using a Candidate Antigen Selection Strategy (CASS) based on the gonococcal transcriptome during human mucosal infection, we identified new potential vaccine targets that, when used to immunize mice, induced the production of antibodies with bactericidal activity against strains. The current study determined antigen recognition by human sera from -infected subjects, evaluated their potential as a multi-antigen (combination) vaccine in mice and examined the impact of different adjuvants (Alum or Alum+MPLA) on functional antibody responses to . Our results indicated that a stronger Th1 immune response component induced by Alum+MPLA led to antibodies with improved bactericidal activity. In conclusion, a combination of CASS-derived antigens may be promising for developing effective gonococcal vaccines.

Source

Roe SK, Felter B, Zheng B, Ram S, Wetzler LM, Garges E, Zhu T, Genco CA, Massari P. In Vitro Pre-Clinical Evaluation of a Gonococcal Trivalent Candidate Vaccine Identified by Transcriptomics. Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Dec 13;11(12):1846. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11121846. PMID: 38140249; PMCID: PMC10747275.

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DOI
10.3390/vaccines11121846
PubMed ID
38140249
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38140249
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Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/)