Overcoming a vexing problem in vaccine research

Researchers at UConn’s Center of Excellence in Vaccine Research (CEVR)  have made a breakthrough in vaccine development for a common and difficult to treat pneumonia-causing pathogen. Their research was recently published in the Nature Partner Journal – Vaccines. For Mycoplasma pneumoniae, vaccine development has been stalled since the 1960s due to a phenomenon called vaccine-enhanced disease (VED) or vaccine-induced disease exacerbation. A vaccine for this type of community-acquired pneumonia has been long sought, since the illness can pose problems for closed community settings such as military bases, hospitals, ships, college dormitories, and prisons. “Two different vaccines were developed by the National Institutes of Health,” says Assistant Professor in Pathobiology and Veterinary Science Steven Szczepanek. “In trials, most vaccinated subjects were protected from infection and showed no symptoms. However, for some vaccinated and infected subjects, symptoms were actually worse than those observed in people that did not receive the vaccine. This is vaccine-enhanced disease and is of...