A new vaccine offers hope for treating and even preventing the highly contagious and difficult-to-treat Clostridioides difficile infection (commonly known as C. difficile or C. difficile). In animal models, this first mRNA-LNP C. difficile vaccine protects against primary and recurrent C. difficile infections by inducing a strong immune response and eliminating existing C. difficile bacteria from the intestine. It has been found to promote and even overcome infectious diseases. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia say the animals lack the host immunity that protects them after infection. The results, published in the journal Science, pave the way for clinical trials of the vaccine.
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C. difficile is a bacterium that can cause infections with symptoms ranging from diarrhea to fatal colon damage. The virus spreads quickly through spores that are difficult to kill and commonly infects vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, people taking antibiotics, and even patients in hospitals and nursing homes. . The bug is also persistent, with 30 to 40 percent of people diagnosed with C. difficile infection likely to become infected again.
“Our approach was to create a multivalent mRNA vaccine that simultaneously attacks multiple aspects of C. diff’s complex lifestyle without affecting the normal microbiome,” said co-authors. Mohammad Gabriel Alamehan says: Senior Chief Scientist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Antibiotics are not always an effective tool in successfully treating very tough pathogens like C. diff. It has only just begun to show itself.”
“While most vaccines prompt the immune system to produce specific antibodies, mRNA vaccines can be easily packaged to allow the immune system to do multiple things to protect against bacteria, making the C. difficile vaccine It’s a perfect candidate: a virus or a fungus,” says study author and Nobel Prize winner Drew Wiseman, the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research at Penn. His research laid the foundation for the world’s first mRNA vaccine.
For more information, visit Penn Medicine News.
