Development of a Chlamydia Specific Vaccine Strain

Application: Deriving a candidate vaccine strain for Chlamydia serovars

Each year up to 1 million women in the United States develop pervic inflammatory disease due to Chlamydial infection of the reproductive organs. Twenty to forty percent of women with Chlamydial infections that are not adequately treated may develop PID. At the present time there is no successful vaccine against the Chlamydia bacteria that causes these significant active and latent infections.

University researchers have developed a novel process to remove its cryptic plasmid of Chlamydia that renders the bacteria unable to be infective. This could form the basis for the development of a vaccine. The method has been successfully used to isolate different variants and strains of Chlamydia that can be cultured but which do not develop the pathology associated with this infection. One example, strain CM3.1 grows well in culture, and is infectious, but does not cause reproductive tract pathology in a mouse model of genital infection. This variant also fails to induce inflammatory cytokines.

Studies are currently in progress to develop other recombinant variants of Chlamydia as vectors and agents for inducing host immunity. Various constructs are being examined for their role in activating various diagnostic gene profiles and antigenic responses to antigens from Chlamydia and other obligate intracellular organisms.

Patent Pending
Available for Exclusive Licensing
06-11 (T) O’Connell

No know limitations

File Number: 06-11 

Web site: http://www.uams.edu/bioventures

Disease: Infectious Diseases

Other Information:

pervic inflammatory disease due to Chlamydial infection of the reproductive organs.