New mRNA Vaccine Created to Prevent and Treat C. difficile
New mRNA Vaccine Created to Prevent and Treat C. difficile
The vaccine is the first mRNA vaccine against C. difficile and would be the first vaccine in general to successfully ward off the bacterial infection.
A new vaccine provides hope for treating and even preventing the highly contagious and difficult-to-treat Clostridioides difficile infection, more commonly known as C. difficile or C. diff. In animal models, this first mRNA-LNP C. difficile vaccine was found to protect against C. difficile first-time infections and relapsing infections by inducing a robust immune response, promote clearance of existing C. diff bacteria from the gut, and even overcome deficits in host immunity to protect animals after infection, according to researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The results, published in the journal Science, will pave the way for clinical trials of the vaccine.
That's pretty huge. C. Diff is a pain to get rid of and can spread very quickly in an inpatient setting.
Can't mRNA vaccine platforms be used to manufacture almost any organic molecule in the body?
Yep! The mRNA vaccine project started in the 1980's and to provide an elaborate use case, they designed it to be a "blank check". Meaning whatever disease, toxin, allergy, autoimmune disorder, or cancer researchers want to vaccinate against is likely possible.