Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei are bacterial pathogens and causative agents of glanders and melioidosis, respectively. At present, effective vaccines for prevention of glanders or meliodosis have not been developed. However, renewed attention has been directed toward development of Burkholderia vaccines because of the pathogens' seemingly ideal characteristics for malicious use as a biowarfare weapon. Additionally, a vaccine will also have significant value for the immunization of at-risk populations in melioidosis/glanders endemic areas of the world. Therefore, our long-term goal is to develop a platform that allows for the efficient generation of a multicomponent vaccine which is able to protect against both glanders and melioidosis. Our approach will use glycoconjugates coupled to gold nanoparticles (NP) and test their protective properties in clinically relevant models of infection. The central hypothesis tested indicates that protein antigens of B. mallei or B. pseudomallei coupled to NP polysaccharides will elicit protection in relevant mammalian species, and that these antigens will correlate with clinically important serologic/immunologic readouts. The hypothesis will be evaluated by developing different protein-polysaccharide NPs and comparing their efficacy in vivo. The flexible NP platform will allow us to additionally incorporate novel antigens identified by other groups as further enhancing protective immunity. We will establish an optimal immunization procedure and test the efficacies of protein-polysaccharide NPs in a clinically relevant and highly controlled aerosol murine model of infection. Finally, we aim to identify the correlates/biomarkers of protection induced by protein- polysaccharide NP vaccination. This proposal is innovative because it capitalizes on the use of a subunit-NP vaccine, which could be easily licensable because of its lower cost and more widely disseminated vaccinations for at-risk populations. Together, these outcomes will help us to identify correlates of protection from protein- polysaccharide nanoparticles and provide optimized vaccination strategies.

Public Health Relevance

Burkholderia is a potential agent of bioterrorism. To combat this pathogenj, we wish to develop a vaccine against the human diseases glanders and melioidosis, caused by different pathogenic Burkholderia species. We will develop a means of protecting against these diseases by evaluating a protein-polysaccharide nanovaccine, which is expected to produce broad spectrum cross-protection against challenge with pathogenic Burkholderia species and enable us to develop a strong vaccine against this pathogen.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI126601-03
Application #
9485899
Study Section
Vaccines Against Microbial Diseases Study Section (VMD)
Program Officer
Zou, Lanling
Project Start
2016-06-01
Project End
2021-05-31
Budget Start
2018-06-01
Budget End
2019-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Med Br Galveston
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
800771149
City
Galveston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77555
Sanchez-Villamil, Javier I; Torres, Alfredo G (2018) Melioidosis in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Trop Med Infect Dis 3:
Muruato, Laura A; Tapia, Daniel; Hatcher, Christopher L et al. (2017) The Use of Reverse Vaccinology in the Design and Construction of Nano-glycoconjugate Vaccines against Burkholderia pseudomallei. Clin Vaccine Immunol :
Lewis, Eric R G; Torres, Alfredo G (2016) The art of persistence-the secrets to Burkholderia chronic infections. Pathog Dis 74:
Muruato, Laura A; Torres, Alfredo G (2016) Melioidosis: where do we stand in the development of an effective vaccine? Future Microbiol 11:477-80
Hatcher, Christopher L; Muruato, Laura A; Torres, Alfredo G (2015) Recent Advances in Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei Research. Curr Trop Med Rep 2:62-69