Researchers claim that an experimental vaccination has demonstrated potential in preventing chlamydia, an STD.
Lab mice given the vaccine were able to rapidly clear subsequent chlamydia infections, and were less likely to develop severe infections compared with unvaccinated mice, researchers reported Nov. 11 in the journal npj Vaccines.
According to the study’s authors, the vaccination contains radiation-killed chlamydia whole-cell bacteria.
According to the study, even if the bacteria are destroyed by radiation, they trigger an immunological reaction because they are shielded by a potent antioxidant. While eliminating the bacteria, the antioxidant preserves the surface proteins required to trigger an immunological response.
The whole-cell chlamydia vaccine produced by the antioxidant protection raised mouse antibody levels by more than 16 times.
Conversely, modest amounts of antibodies were created by vaccines that lacked the antioxidants.
“All of these findings just make sense to me,” said lead researcher George Liechti, a professor with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ Department of Microbiology and Immunology in Bethesda, Md. “If you want an effective whole-cell chlamydia vaccine, then you should probably try not to cook, zap or otherwise damage the surface antigens that it relies on.”
In 2022, there were around 1.6 million cases of chlamydia infections, according to background notes from researchers. The majority of incidents that were recorded involved young women between the ages of 15 and 24.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, women who have untreated chlamydia are more likely to develop pelvic inflammatory disease, which can lead to infertility.
According to a university news release, efforts to create a chlamydia vaccine date back almost 80 years.
A whole-cell chlamydia vaccine may increase an individual’s risk of contracting the sexually transmitted disease in some situations, according to field tests conducted in the 1960s. The development of a whole-cell vaccination was hence mainly shelved.
However, scientists have recently found that the several methods of eliminating the chlamydia bacteria in order to prepare a virus—such as boiling, radiation, chemical exposure, and ultraviolet light—all seriously harm the cell surface, decreasing the likelihood that an immune response would be triggered.
Before any chlamydia vaccine is prepared for human testing, considerable time will need to pass.
“Our findings thus pave the way for a new generation of whole-cell, multivalent Chlamydia vaccines, offering a promising strategy to combat a major global health challenge,” the authors wrote.
