Membrane Vesicles as a Vaccine Platform For Salmonella

Abstract

Salmonella species cause substantial morbidity, mortality, and disease burden globally with multiple clinical syndromes. A protective host defense to Salmonella infection requires both T-cell (cell-mediated) and B-cell (humoral) immune response. Current vesicle vaccine platforms include inactivated, non-replicating, or synthetic liposomes which do not produce a robust immune response because they lack foreign distinctness and complexity. Membrane vesicles (MVs), released in a conserved process by Gramnegative bacteria, are discrete, spherical nano-particles that are composed of outer membrane and periplasmic constituents including lipopolysaccharides and proteins. MVs are promising vaccine candidates for the following reasons: their intrinsic adjuvant properties, genetically malleability via the parental bacterial strain that can alter vaccine efficacy, a minimal production cost, and they are stable in powder form. As biologically derived but nonreplicating particles they are important in the vaccine strategy for immunocompromised populations. My findings reveal MVs posses important inflammatory properties that demonstrate a viable vaccine platform potential for Salmonella infection.