The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded an as much as $16 million contract to Tulane University to bring to phase one clinical trial a nasal spray vaccine university researchers invented to thwart antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, a number one reason behind pneumonia.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise and are a big reason behind infections requiring hospitalization amongst children and the elderly. As doctors try to seek out latest forms of antibiotics to fight these so-called superbugs, Tulane University School of Medicine researchers Elizabeth Norton, PhD, and Jay Kolls, MD, inventors of the vaccine, are working to guard people before they’re exposed to the pathogens in the primary place.
“Multidrug-resistant bacteria are causing more severe infections and are a growing public health threat. Vaccines targeting these pathogens represent probably the most cost-effective option, particularly in the event you can use this vaccine to forestall or treat the infection in high-risk individuals,” said Norton, principal investigator and associate professor of microbiology and immunology. “At once, there isn’t any vaccine in the marketplace that targets this sort of pneumonia.”
Klebsiella pneumoniae is the third leading reason behind hospital-acquired pneumonia and the second leading reason behind bloodstream infections with the best incidence of significant infections. It’s also a serious reason behind childhood pneumonia in parts of Asia. The Tulane vaccine would goal high-risk populations equivalent to immunocompromised individuals, diabetics or organ transplant recipients.
Norton said that while the vaccine targets the Klebsiella bacteria, its unique design gives it the potential to be cross-reactive to other members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, the antibiotic-resistant bacterial species behind many hospital-acquired infections, including E. coli.
The vaccine, called CladeVax, is designed to efficiently goal mucosa within the nose, throat and lungs to guard the world most in danger for infection.
The nasal spray vaccine uses an adjuvant -; a compound that stimulates the immune system -; named LTA1 that Norton developed at Tulane. That adjuvant, which is made using a protein derived from the E. coli bacteria, will probably be combined with a series of proprietary antigens identified by the Kolls lab that include outer membrane proteins from the goal bacteria.
That is a wholly novel vaccine platform, from using the adjuvant to the needle-less route of administration. This represents a wholly latest class of vaccines for bacteria that elicits protection in two ways -; each antibody and T-cell immunity. All current pneumonia vaccines only elicit antibodies against surface carbohydrates. Our platform has the potential advantage of providing a much wider protection against pneumonia.”
Jay Kolls, co-principal investigator, and the John W. Deming Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine
Tulane researchers will first test vaccine formulations in animal models and nonhuman primates for dosing and safety before advancing to clinical trials. The project will include collaborators at Tulane National Primate Research Center, the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane Clinical Translational Unit, and the University of North Carolina in addition to contractors for GMP manufacturing.
“If this succeeds, we can have one other arsenal for the growing variety of antibiotic resistant sources of pneumonia or bloodstream infections,” Norton said. “And we are able to hopefully expand this nasal spray delivery platform to other infections, working on a single, combination vaccine that’s needle-less and targets several organisms directly.”