We may soon have a way to prevent the world’s most debilitating and incurable disease. Scientists are developing an advanced vaccine that can be stopped Clostridoides difficilea bacterium known to cause severe intestinal infections in its tracks.
The scientists detailed their development of the experimental vaccine candidate C. difficile bacteria, better known as C. diff, in a new study this week. The vaccine is based on the mRNA technology used to create some of the first widely available covid-19 vaccines.
Although many people have C. diff in their intestines without a problem, the bacteria can sometimes grow out of control, causing diarrhea and colitis (a common reason for this is the use of antibiotics, as the drugs can kill the harmless bacteria that keep C. diff in check). Antibiotics can treat these early infections, but about one in six people will later develop C. diff which tend to be more difficult to clear. So scientists have long hoped to find a way to shorten this vicious cycle from happening in the first place, such as using an effective vaccine.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed a vaccine candidate, which uses mRNA technology to target C. diff at different key points. These bacteria can change and use various strategies to ensure their survival. They can turn into long-lived spores that spend their time hiding in the soil, for example, or aggregate in large numbers into a tough film in our intestines that allows them to become resistant to antibiotics. Pathogenic C. diff strains also produce toxins that make it easier for them to continue growing but at the cost of making us sick. The group vaccine is intended to train the immune system against several toxins and other dangerous factors of C. diff that makes it such a threat.
So far, their system seems to be working as expected, at least in mice. The vaccine provided mice with long-lasting immunity to both primary and secondary strains of C. diff, the researchers found. They also tested an improved version of the vaccine, designed to help the body recognize non-toxic cells and spore antigens of C. diff, and found that it improved the mice’s ability to clear toxin-producing bacteria from the gut. The team’s findings were published this month in the journal Science.
“Our approach was to develop a versatile mRNA vaccine that would target multiple factors C. diff’s a complex lifestyle at the same time without affecting the normal microbiota,” said co-author Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh, assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn and principal scientist at CHOP, in a statement from the university.
This research is still in the early stages of development, of course, so there’s no guarantee that the group’s vaccine will work well in humans. But the goal of C. diff, if successfully developed, will have a significant impact on health. It is estimated that about half a million C. infections. diff occurs every year in the US, which can be very dangerous and sometimes fatal for people who are already at risk, such as the elderly or those hospitalized for other conditions. Annually, it is thought that about 30,000 people die from C. diff every year. Recent research shows that C. diff is becoming more of a problem outside of hospitals, too.
It will likely take years for this goal to reach large-scale trials even if things continue to go well. But the overall future already looks bright for mRNA-based vaccines. After the release of the covid-19 vaccine, Moderna’s mRNA vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration just last May. mRNA vaccines for cytomegalovirus, influenza, and other cancers are now close to success.
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