VacPath · Novel vaccine vectors to resist pathogen challenge

Novel vaccine vectors to resist pathogen challenge

Problem addressed: Infectious diseases are a major burden and constant threat to European populations and economies. While barely perceived as a danger not too long ago, a combination of potential rapid spread of novel pathogens across the globe, as we have seen for SARS-CoV-2, antibiotics resistance, a come-back of “old” pathogens and persistence of “yet to be combatted pathogens” has raised the demand for effective but safe vaccines. An example of a “yet to be combatted pathogen” is the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. This pathogen is the major cause of sexually transmitted bacterial disease in humans, and poses a world-wide health concern. While responsive to antibiotics, over half of infections are asymptomatic and therefore remain untreated, and also re-infections frequently occur, both urging the need for a prophylactic vaccine. Nevertheless, insufficient knowledge on how to vaccinate against this intracellular pathogen hampers the development of such vaccines. Overall objectives: In this project, 5 academic and 2 private partners cooperated to educate early stage researchers (ESR) in the diverse aspects of novel vaccine development. These ESR redesigned a protein-based C. trachomatis vaccine of one of the beneficiaries, eliciting humoral responses, to induce also cell-mediated immunity. Different innovative vaccines, based on safe virus-, bacterium-, and plasmid-based vectors, were created which were tested for protective capacity in a preclinical model of C. trachomatis infection. In addition, novel vaccine targets were identified by examining the antigenic landscape on C. trachomatis-infected host cell. Finally, key biological pathways and specific genes linked to vaccine-induced responses were identified. The benefits of this research are not limited to vaccine development for C. trachomatis; results may translate to optimized vectored vaccines for a broad range of intracellular pathogens. Importance for society: VacPath has contributed towards a new generation of safe vaccines that in future can be exploited to vaccinate against C. trachomatis, or can be adapted to vaccinate against intracellular pathogens of choice. Moreover, of the ten ESR who have or soon will be defending their thesis, four have are continuing a career in academia, three are joining a pharmaceutical company, and three are concurrently evaluating career opportunities in academia as well as in industry. Taken together, this project has educated a new generation of scientists that through the offered, integrated training have been prepared to enter the European task force, in academia or industry, to find creative solutions to address future pathogen-imposed challenges.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union