University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers have developed the first mRNA Clostridioides difficile vaccine — and it's shown promising results in animal models.
The mRNA vaccine was found to protect against first-time C. diff infections and relapsing infections, promote clearance of existing C. diff bacteria in the gut and overcome deficits in host immunity to protect animals from infection, according to an Oct. 17 system news release. The study was published in Science, and could pave the way for clinical trials.
Researchers used the mRNA-LNP vaccine platform — the same that provided the COVID-19 vaccines — to create the C. diff vaccine.
"Our approach was to create a multivalent mRNA vaccine that would attack multiple aspects of C. diff's complex lifestyle simultaneously without affecting the normal microbiota," co-first author Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh, PhD, an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Penn and a senior principal scientist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said in the release. "Antibiotics are not always an effective means of successfully treating really tough pathogens like C. diff, and we have only begun to scratch the surface of the full potential of mRNA vaccines for a host of infectious diseases."
Previously attempted vaccines, including a non-mRNA vaccine from 2022, did not meet the research threshold to be released on the market. The main treatment for the infection has remained a lengthy course of antibiotics.
This vaccine is part of a growing mRNA research field at the system. Penn is also looking at designing mRNA vaccines for Lyme disease, norovirus, herpes simplex virus 2, sickle cell disease, deadly food allergies and cancer.