Immunogenicity generated by mRNA vaccine encoding VZV gE antigen is comparable to adjuvanted subunit vaccine and better than live attenuated vaccine in nonhuman primates.

Shingles is a painful, blistering rash caused by reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and most frequently occurs in elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Currently, two approved vaccines for the prevention of shingles are on the market, a live attenuated virus vaccine ZOSTAVAX® (Merck & Co., Inc.

Development of a Novel Vaccine Containing Binary Toxin for the Prevention of Clostridium difficile Disease with Enhanced Efficacy against NAP1 Strains.

Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) are a leading cause of nosocomial diarrhea in the developed world. The main virulence factors of the bacterium are the large clostridial toxins (LCTs), TcdA and TcdB, which are largely responsible for the symptoms of the disease. Recent outbreaks of CDI have been associated with the emergence of hypervirulent strains, such as NAP1/BI/027, many strains of which also produce a third toxin, binary toxin (CDTa and CDTb).

Ion-Exchange Chromatography to Analyze Components of a Clostridium difficile Vaccine.

Ion-exchange (IEX) chromatography is one of many separation techniques that can be employed to analyze proteins. The separation mechanism is based on a reversible interaction between charged amino acids of a protein to the charged ligands attached to a column at a given pH. This interaction depends on both the pI and conformation of the protein being analyzed.

Toxicity assessment of Clostridium difficile toxins in rodent models and protection of vaccination.

Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea, also known as C. difficile associated diarrhea. The two major toxins, toxin A and toxin B are produced by most C.

Meeting report VLPNPV: Session 8: Vaccines I.

In Session 8 of the recent conference "Virus-Like Particle and Nano-Particle Vaccines" held at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California (05 June 2014), four scientists described new virus-like particle (VLP) approaches, progress, and early-stage plans for vaccines against significant human pathogens including HPV, malaria, HIV, Dengue, and RSV. A unifying theme was that displaying epitopes in an array on a virus-like particle can be a powerful approach for achieving a strong immune response. VLP approaches described included display of epitopes on bacteriophage, display of epitopes as fusions with other protein multimerization domains, and self-assembly of recombinantly-expressed virus coat proteins.