In May 2024, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that it is leading a partnership with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funding. The collaboration also involves Vaxcyte and the University of Chicago. The grant, worth $9.3 million, will enable scientists to “build on past vaccinology accomplishments to develop a viable vaccine candidate for early human clinical trials”.
Chlamydia
Chlamydia is a common and treatable sexually transmitted infection that affects “many millions of people around the world”. However, as many people do not experience symptoms or get tested, they may not know that they have the disease. Unfortunately, if left untreated, it can “seriously harm” the female reproductive system, making it “impossible or difficult to get pregnant” or leading to a “potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy”. The bacterium can also be transmitted to babies and cause eye infections and pneumonia.
A vaccine candidate
Dr Toni Darville, Distinguished Professor of Paediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology, division chief of paediatric infectious diseases, and scientific director of the Children’s Research Institute at the UNC School of Medicine, identifies a “clear unmet need” for a vaccine.
“Our previous studies of infected women and mice identified Chlamydial Protease Activation Factor (CPAF) as a strong vaccine candidate.”
A vaccine candidate would need “potent adjuvants” to modulate the immune response due to the nature of the female genital tract and “lack of secondary lymphoid tissue”. Chlamydia might also require mucosal vaccination to “ensure resident memory T cells are generated” against the bacterium before infection.
“Our earlier work showed that our new covalent CPAF-adjuvant conjugation approach enhanced cell activation, reduced toxicity, and improved immune response, leading to superior efficacy as well as reduced cost.”
Dr Jeff Fairman, vice president of research and co-founder of Vaxcyte, is “excited to explore our ability to successfully develop a Chlamydia vaccine candidate” to be advanced to early-phase human clinical trials.
“This grant will allow us to incorporate a tiered approach to determine if refinements using an innovative generation of molecules delivered via mucosal routes will enhance disease protection in animal models.”
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