Antigen identification for Chlamydia vaccine development

About This Grant

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the US, with 1.64 million cases reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) in 2022. Women with untreated Chlamydia infection can develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and suffer long-term reproductive harm including chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, or infertility. There are no licensed vaccines for Chlamydia and a very limited vaccine pipeline. This application builds on our recent work demonstrating that Chlamydia- specific circulating memory and non-circulating TRM CD4 T cells can each provide protective immunity to the female reproductive tract. We will use new screening approach to, (i) identify target antigens recognized by both of these protective Chlamydia-specific memory CD4 T cells and validate these antigens, (ii) examine whether an mRNA vaccine approach can provide protection in the mouse model. Successful completion of these studies will provide a new foundation for vaccine development against a neglected disease that adversely affects the reproductive health of many young women in the US.