Plague is endemic in many areas of the world, including even the western United States. The etiological agent of the disease, Yersinia pestis, infects both humans and rodents. Once a potential host is exposed, Y. pestis can rapidly invade the lymphatic system to produce systemic and often fatal disease.

Recent efforts to create a safe and effective plague vaccine have focused on the develop-ment of recombinant subunit vaccines that elicit antibodies against multiple Y. pestis antigens. These live, attenuated vaccine strains, however, are produced by selection rather than genetic manipulation and thus have generated concerns about their genetic composition and stability.

To address this problem, researchers at the Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University have developed a recombinant Yersinia bacterium as a live vaccine agent to generate both a humoral and cellular immune response in a host.

This engineered strain provides the same advantages as the subunit vaccines in simultaneous priming against more than one antigen and thereby enhancing the likely-hood of broad-based protection. In addition, because the strain is genetically engineered, there is no instability in the genotype and no possibility of reversion to a wild type infectious agent.

Potential Applications

• The technology provides a vaccine against Y. pestis.

Benefits and Advantages

• The genetically engineered agent is polyvalent, well-characterized, and stable.

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For more information about the inventor(s) and their research, please see
Dr. Curtiss' directory webpage
Dr. Curtiss' departmental webpage