Vaccines provide a rational approach for assuring protection of large populations prior to or immediately following a bioterrorism attack. Our goal i to address three significant problems currently raised by bioterrorism threats: 1) need for an easy method of mass vaccination; 2) shortcomings of the current anthrax vaccine which requires needles and health professionals for administration, requires an extended vaccination schedule (6 doses over 18 months) and has concerns over adverse effects; and 3) the lack of a plague vaccine licensed in the United States. To address this challenge, we will exploit the extensive safety record of the existing live, oral typhoid fever vaccine, Ty21a, and our experience in engineering it to express the protective antigen (PA) of Bacillus anthracis, and to induce protection against lethal anthrax aerosol challenge in mice with this Ty21a-anthrax PA vaccine. We will utilize Ty21a as a vector to develop a multi-valent combination oral vaccine that will simultaneously protect against anthrax and plague. Further, we hypothesize that this vaccine can be formulated to be safe, stable, highly immunogenic and can be easily administered orally. The current application is aimed at completing the necessary final vaccine constructions, animal immunogenicity and efficacy studies, and full characterization (genetic, immunological, microbiological) of the final candidates. We will then construct master cell banks, conduct small-scale (10 liter) manufacture in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices, and dry the product for temperature stability and formulation into rapidly dissolvable wafers. The final vaccine preparation will be studied for genetic stability, safety, immunogenicity and efficacy in mouse, rabbit, and/or rat models of anthrax and plague disease. 1 clinical trial, and subsequent IND preparation and submission after all studies in this project have been completed.

Public Health Relevance

Vaccines provide a rational approach for assuring protection of large populations prior to or immediately following a bioterrorism attack. Our goal is to address three significant problems currently raised by bioterrorism threats: 1) need for an easy method of mass vaccination; 2) shortcomings of the current anthrax vaccine which requires needles and health professionals for administration, requires an extended vaccination schedule (6 doses over 18 months) and has concerns over adverse effects; and 3) the lack of a plague vaccine licensed in the United States. To overcome these problems we will develop combination anthrax and plague vaccine that we hypothesize will be safe, stable, and highly immunogenic and can be easily administered orally.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI098884-04
Application #
8835023
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1)
Program Officer
Zou, Lanling
Project Start
2012-05-01
Project End
2016-04-30
Budget Start
2015-05-01
Budget End
2016-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Protein Potential, LLC
Department
Type
DUNS #
130569028
City
Rockville
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
20850