Vaccines for preventing anthrax

Abstract

One cluster-RCT provides limited evidence that a live-attenuated vaccine is effective in preventing cutaneous anthrax. Vaccines based on anthrax antigens are immunogenic in most vaccinees with few adverse events or reactions. Ongoing randomized controlled trials are investigating the immunogenicity and safety of anthrax vaccines.

Biophysical characterization and immunization studies of dominant negative inhibitor (DNI), a candidate anthrax toxin subunit vaccine

“…1 The inhaled form of anthrax is the most severe in humans and the mortality in untreated cases is almost 100%. 2 Concerns about the potential use of the inhaled form of anthrax as a biological weapon have led to major efforts to develop effective anthrax countermeasures that include programs for mass immunization with vaccines that can be used pre-or post-exposure. 3 After germination of spores, vegetative Bacillus anthracis secretes anthrax toxin, a binary AB toxin that includes lethal factor (LF), edema factor (EF) and protective antigen (PA) that is largely responsible for the major pathology of anthrax and contributes to rapid mortality in disseminated disease.…”

“…Because PA is the sole immunogenic component of the anthrax toxin and can interfere with toxin binding to receptors, recombinant protective antigen (rPA) is the focus of next generation anthrax vaccines currently under development. 2,4,5 rPA vaccines differ in several respects from the only currently licensed vaccine in the United States, anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA/BioThrax ® ). Recombinant PA vaccines contain no lethal factor (LF) or edema factor (EF) which are present in small quantities in the culture filtrates used to manufacture AVA.…”

“…Such purified recombinant protein vaccines would be expected to have fewer side effects than those associated with use of AVA. 2 …”

Genome Sequence of Bacillus anthracis STI, a Sterne-Like Georgian/Soviet Vaccine Strain

“…The second Soviet anthrax vaccine strain is the subject of this Genome Announcement. This strain is the more publicized Georgian/Soviet vaccine strain known as STI ( 1 – 4 ). The original vaccine was purportedly developed by Soviet Scientists in the 1940s at their Kirov Institute and was successfully used to vaccinate animals ( 2 ).…”

Model-driven design of Mycoplasma as a vaccine chassis

“…Effective vaccines against mycoplasmas are also needed to avoid massive antibiotic usage in large-scale animal farms and to obviate the diagnostic and treatment difficulties. Indeed, a diagnosis is not always possible due to the big difficulties in isolating the bacterium 87,88 and, when it is possible, only antimicrobials such as tetracyclines and macrolides, which are able to reach high concentrations in the mucus of the respiratory tract, are effective in vivo [89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96] . Mycoplasma infections result in great economic losses: infected animals show higher mortality rate and grow much slower.…”