Vaccine To Prevent Urinary Tract Infections Shows Early Promise

University of Michigan (U-M) scientists have made an important step toward
what could become the first vaccine in the U.S. to prevent urinary tract
infections, if the robust immunity achieved in mice can be reproduced in
humans. The findings are published September 18 in the open-access journal
PLoS Pathogens.



Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect 53 percent of women and 14 percent
of men at least once in their lives. These infections lead to lost work
time
and 6.8 million medical provider's office visits, 1.3 million emergency
room visits and 245,000 hospitalizations a year, with an annual cost of
$2.4
billion in the United States.



To help combat this common health issue, the U-M scientists used a novel
systematic approach, combining bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics, to
look for key parts of the bacterium, Escherichia coli, that could be used
in a vaccine to elicit an effective immune response. The team, led by Dr.
Harry L.T. Mobley, Ph.D., screened 5,379 possible bacterial proteins and
identified three strong candidates to use in a vaccine to prime the body
to
fight E. coli, the cause of most uncomplicated urinary tract infections.
The vaccine prevented infection and produced key types of immunity when
tested in mice.



Scientists have attempted to develop a vaccine for UTIs over the past two
decades. This latest potential vaccine has features that may better its
chances of success. It alerts the immune system to iron receptors on the
surface of bacteria that perform a critical function allowing infection to
spread. Administered in the nose, it induces an immune response in the
body's mucosa, a first line of defense against invading pathogens. The
response, also produced in mucosal tissue in the urinary tract, should
help the body fight infection where it starts.



Mobley's team is currently testing more strains of E. coli obtained from
women treated at U-M. Most of the strains produce the same iron-related
proteins that cthe vaccine targets, an encouraging sign that the vaccine
could work against many urinary tract infections. Mobley is seeking
partners
in clinical research to move the vaccine forward into a phase 1 trial in
humans. If successful, this vaccine would take several more years to reach
the market.




Financial Disclosure: This work has been funded by Public Health Service
Grant AI043363 from the National Institutes of Health. The funders had no
role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish,
or preparation of the manuscript.


Citation:

"Mucosal Immunization with Iron Receptor Antigens Protects against Urinary Tract Infection."
Alteri CJ, Hagan EC, Sivick KE, Smith SN, Mobley HLT (2009)

PLoS Pathog 5(9): e1000586. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000586

Source
PLoS Pathogens

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