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Chlamydia vaccine shows promise in mice; garners first revenue-producing license for technology produced at UTSA
Chlamydia is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it may have met its match.
Researchers at UTSA’s South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (STCEID) and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) are developing a vaccine to mitigate the severe damage chlamydia can inflict on female reproductive organs.
Chlamydia primarily infects women between the ages of 14 and 39, according to the CDC’s U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The infection rate in Texas is slightly higher than the national average; nearly 17 percent of Texas females in the 15–19 age cohort test positive for chlamydia.
Its female victims face ectopic pregnancies, pelvic inflammatory damage and infertility. In men, complications are less likely but include pain, fever and sterility. The bacterial infection currently can be treated with antibiotics, but it may destroy a woman’s fertility before she realizes she’s affected.
Researchers at STCEID and UTHSCSA have found they can shorten the time Chlamydia trachomatis exists within the female reproductive system of mice and thus lessen the potential harm.
Promising Data
Bernard Arulanandam, professor of microbiology and immunology in STCEID and the Department of Biology, and Ashlesh Murthy, research assistant professor at STCEID and the Department of Biology, have collaborated with Guangming Zhong, professor of microbiology and immunology from UTHSCSA, on the groundbreaking research.
The trials use a secreted chlamydia protein, which limits the host’s compatibility for Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria. “We can take this molecule from the bacteria and use it against itself,” Murthy says.
Mucosal immunity through a vaccine inhaled nasally, much like FluMist, can transfer immunity throughout the host’s system, explains Arulanandam.
“We took things that we knew had worked before with other microorganisms and applied them to chlamydia,” Arulanandam adds. “We started off by asking basic questions: If the vaccine was used intranasally to induce immunity, will it work with genital infection?”
The team’s work was the first to demonstrate that a vaccine composed of a select group of chlamydia proteins can successfully accelerate bacterial clearance and improve female reproductive function in mice. The immunized animals have shown a high degree of protection against the infection’s dire consequences, such as pelvic inflammatory damage.
“We are in the process of identifying proteins from the bacterial cycle to get as close as we can to eliminate [chlamydia cell] shedding,” Murthy adds. “We expect to get significant reduction in shedding. We don’t expect to completely prevent chlamydia, although that is the ideal goal.”
International recognition
The researchers have presented their results internationally, including conferences in Germany, Japan and Denmark. The research also garnered notice among pharmaceutical companies. In 2009, Merck & Co. Inc. announced an exclusive license and sponsored research agreement with the team to develop a Chlamydia trachomatis vaccine.
The partnership allows collaboration with industry researchers who have extensive resources and expertise in vaccine development.
It is the first revenue-producing license for technology produced at UTSA; Merck will provide funding, an upfront fee and reimburse the university’s past patent expenses. The university will receive future installments as vaccine candidates advance through development. Grant monies from the National Institutes of Health and the Semp Russ Foundation to both Arulanandam and Murthy also fund the work.
For the next step, the team plans to examine how to boost the host’s immune response and monitor the best way to distribute the inhaled vaccine. The efficacy of the vaccine candidates will be tested in other species, a precursor to testing on human subjects. Collaborating with Zhong at UTHSCSA and researchers at Merck, the researchers hope to develop a combination of antigens for possible vaccine testing.
Early results are encouraging, but it may be years before a human vaccine could be approved. The idea, though, is tantalizingly within reach. “We are confident that we have the resources and people to make a successful product,” Murthy says.