Subunit vaccines for the prevention of mucosal infection with Chlamydia trachomatis

ABSTRACT

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common preventable cause of tubal infertility in women. In high-income countries, despite public health control efforts, C. trachomatis case rates continue to rise. Most medium and low-income countries lack any Chlamydia control program; therefore, a vaccine is essential for the control of Chlamydia infections. A rationally designed Chlamydia vaccine requires understanding of the immunological correlates of protective immunity, pathological responses to this mucosal pathogen, identification of optimal vaccine antigens and selection of suitable adjuvant delivery systems that engender protective immunity. Fortunately, Chlamydia vaccinology is facilitated by genomic knowledge and by murine models that reproduce many of the features of human C. trachomatis infection. This article reviews recent progress in these areas with a focus on subunit vaccine development.

KEYWORDS:

• Chlamydia
• vaccine
• antigen
• adjuvant
• tissue-resident memory T cells
• immunoproteomics

Declaration of interest

Some of the work described was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Award Numbers R01AI076483 and R01AI076483), Genome BC and Western Economic Diversification. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Allergy And Infectious Diseases or the National Institutes of Health. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.