Improved Conjugate Vaccines Derived from a Bacterial Immunomodulatory Protein

TB remains a major health and economic burden. Key discoveries (University of Bath) and initial vaccination studies (Newcastle University) have established that a bacterial protein known as Sbi (from Staphylococcus aureus) can improve immune responses to a TB fragment. What makes our Sbi pro-vaccines an attractive commercial opportunity is our findings that Sbi can locally activate the innate immune system of all mammals tested to date. As such, vaccines developed using Sbi could be used across multiple species, including cattle and humans. Here, we will establish how successful Sbi conjugates/compounds are at generating an appropriate adaptive immune response against TB. These studies will lead to full TB challenge experiments in the future, which will allow us to confirm Sbi conjugates as highly effective multifunctional vaccines for animals; providing a clear pathway to commercialization of novel Sbi conjugate based vaccines to improve animal health and world food security.