Vaccines (Sep 2020)

GMMA Is a Versatile Platform to Design Effective Multivalent Combination Vaccines

  • Francesca Micoli,
  • Renzo Alfini,
  • Roberta Di Benedetto,
  • Francesca Necchi,
  • Fabiola Schiavo,
  • Francesca Mancini,
  • Martina Carducci,
  • Elena Palmieri,
  • Cristiana Balocchi,
  • Gianmarco Gasperini,
  • Brunella Brunelli,
  • Paolo Costantino,
  • Roberto Adamo,
  • Diego Piccioli,
  • Allan Saul

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8030540
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 3
p. 540

Abstract

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Technology platforms are an important strategy to facilitate the design, development and implementation of vaccines to combat high-burden diseases that are still a threat for human populations, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and to address the increasing number and global distribution of pathogens resistant to antimicrobial drugs. Generalized Modules for Membrane Antigens (GMMA), outer membrane vesicles derived from engineered Gram-negative bacteria, represent an attractive technology to design affordable vaccines. Here, we show that GMMA, decorated with heterologous polysaccharide or protein antigens, leads to a strong and effective antigen-specific humoral immune response in mice. Importantly, GMMA promote enhanced immunogenicity compared to traditional formulations (e.g., recombinant proteins and glycoconjugate vaccines), without negative impact to the anti-GMMA immune response. Our findings support the use of GMMA as a “plug and play” technology for the development of effective combination vaccines targeting different bugs at the same time.

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