Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics (Jul 2017)

Evaluation of serotypes 5 and 8 capsular polysaccharides in protection against Staphylococcus aureus in murine models of infection

  • Brian L. Cheng,
  • Travis B. Nielsen,
  • Paul Pantapalangkoor,
  • Fan Zhao,
  • Jean C. Lee,
  • Christopher P. Montgomery,
  • Brian Luna,
  • Brad Spellberg,
  • Robert S. Daum

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1304334
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 7
pp. 1609 – 1614

Abstract

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Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of nosocomial and community-acquired infections, including soft tissue and skin infections and bacteremia. However, efforts to develop an effective vaccine against S. aureus infections have not been successful. We evaluated serotypes 5 and 8 capsule polysaccharides (CP) CRM197 conjugates as vaccine candidates in murine models of bacteremia, lethal sepsis, and skin infection. The conjugate vaccines elicited a good antibody response, and active immunization of CP5-CRM or CP8-CRM conjugates protected against staphylococcal bacteremia. In the skin infection model, CP8-CRM but not CP5-CRM protected against dermonecrosis, and CP8-CRM immunization significantly decreased the bacterial burden in the lesion. However, neither CP5-CRM nor CP8-CRM protected against mortality in the lethal sepsis model. The results indicate the capsular vaccines elicit protection against some, but not all, aspects of staphylococcal infection.

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