Researchers at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University have published an article in the journal Vaccine describing promising results from a study of their intranasal BD584 chlamydial antigen against Chlamydia trachomatis, which can cause eye infections called trachoma that may result in blindness and can also cause infertility.
The study, which was conducted in the lab of James Mahony, Professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster, showed that C. trachomatis was inhibited in vitro by serum neutralizing antibodies elicited by intranasal immunization of mice with BD584, and the immunized mice experienced a 95% reduction of vaginal chlamydial shedding and an 87.5% reduction of fallopian tube blockage.
Lead author David Bulir, who recently received his doctorate at McMaster, said, ““Vaccine development efforts in the past three decades have been unproductive and there is no vaccine approved for use in humans. Vaccination would be the best way to way to prevent a chlamydia infection, and this study has identified important new antigens which could be used as part of a vaccine to prevent or eliminate the damaging reproductive consequences of untreated infections.”
Current Ph.D. student Steven Liang, a co-author of the paper, said, “Not only is the vaccine effective, it also has the potential to be widely protective against all C. trachomatis strains, including those that cause trachoma.” He added, “The vaccine would be administered through the nose. This is easy and painless and does not require highly trained health professionals to administer, and that makes it an inexpensive solution for developing nations.”
McMaster University is also home to the annual Aerosol School, which provides comprehensive basic instruction in aerosol medicine.
Read the McMaster University press release.
Read the Vaccine abstract.
