Chlamydial Vaccine Technologies

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has invented three chlamydial vaccine technologies, which have shown promising preclinical efficacy. Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection. If left untreated, chlamydia infection can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. Chlamydia is also the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. Despite increased surveillance, prevalence continues to increase, and the need to develop an effective chlamydial vaccine remains.

Technologies:
1. A plasmid-deficient Chlamydia trachomatis strain which was shown to be a safe, immunogenic, and protective live attenuated vaccine in a nonhuman primate model.
2. A Chlamydia trachomatis polymorphic membrane protein D (PmpD) based subunit vaccine.
3. A live-attenuated Chlamydia trachomatis plasmid vector deficient in virulence genes, pgp3 and pgp4, which can be used to vaccinate against chlamydia as well as other against other bacterial and viral mucosal pathogens.