model figure. (A) C. difficile toxins target the intestinal epithelium, causing severe morbidity and gastrointestinal disease that can lead to morbidity and mortality. (B) When vaccinated mice are infected with C. difficile, antitoxin IgG and IgA protect the mice from disease, and the inclusion of PPEP-1 and CdeM as immunogens inhibits toxigenic C. difficile from the gastrointestinal tract. Difficile eradication is improved. Credit: Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adn4955
A large team of microbiologists, pathologists, and infectious disease experts from several institutions in the United States has developed an mRNA vaccine that has so far been able to protect mice from Clostridioides difficile bacterial infection in the intestines. It is clear that
In a paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how they used mRNA technology to design a multifaceted vaccine that targets several proteins needed by bacteria to cause intestinal disease. and how well it performed in tests using mouse models.
Previous research has shown that patients who are given antibiotics to treat various infections in the hospital destroy the good bacteria in their intestines, leaving them in a weakened state. This makes them more susceptible to bacterial infections such as Clostridium difficile, which infects the intestines and releases toxins that can cause a variety of illnesses, including diarrhea, severe cramps, and even death from sepsis.
Medical researchers have been searching for ways to combat these bacteria, but so far the microbes have been able to evolve faster than the drugs used to kill them. In this new effort, researchers are leveraging lessons learned from research into vaccine development for the virus that causes COVID-19 to effectively combat Clostridium difficile, at least in mouse models. We have developed a vaccine to combat this.
The messenger RNA (mRNA) in vaccines used to fight COVID-19 has a chemical that indirectly interferes with the virus’s ability to attach to human T cells and to the cells it is trying to infect. This includes producing proteins. The research team uses mRNA to obtain multiple components of the immune system (immunoglobulins, T cells, antibodies) to produce several proteins that can be used to fight Clostridium difficile at different stages of its life cycle. and confirmed that it is effective. To eliminate bacteria from the host.
When researchers tested the vaccine, they found it to be highly effective. All mouse models given normally lethal doses of Clostridium difficile recovered, but all mouse models in the control group died. Researchers note that, like other mRNA-based vaccines, this vaccine does not prevent infection, but rather gives the immune system an effective way to fight it.
Further information: Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh et al, Multivalent mRNA-LNP vaccine protects against Clostridioides difficile infection, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adn4955
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Citation: Scientists develop mRNA vaccine to protect mice from intestinal C. difficile bacteria (October 6, 2024), https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-scientists-mrna-vaccine-mice Retrieved October 7, 2024 from -intestinal. html
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