Plague vaccines: current developments and future perspectives

Abstract

Despite many decades of intensive studies of Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, there is no safe and efficient vaccine against this devastating disease. A recently developed F1/V subunit vaccine candidate, which relies mainly on humoral immunity, showed promising results in animal studies; however, its efficacy in humans still has to be carefully evaluated. In addition, those developing next-generation plague vaccines need to pay particular attention to the importance of eliciting cell-mediated immunity. In this review, we analyzed the current progress in developing subunit, DNA and live carrier platforms of delivery by bacterial and viral vectors, as well as approaches for controlled attenuation of virulent strains of Y. pestis.

Emerging Microbes & Infections (2012) 1, e36; doi:10.1038/emi.2012.34

Keywords:

• Plague
• protective antigens
• vaccine
• Yersinia pestis

This work was supported by a grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (HDTRA1-11-1-0032) to Vladimir L. Motin and by a subcontract with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (No 11-082) to Valentina A. Feodorova. We thank Ms Mardelle J Susman for editing the review.