Potential impact of the bivalent rLP2806vaccine on Neisseria meningitidis carriage and invasive serogroup B disease

Abstract

Asymptomatic throat carriage of Neisseria meningitidis is common in healthy individuals. In unusual cases, the bacteria become invasive, resulting in life-threatening disease. Effective meningococcal serogroup B (MnB)vaccines should provide broad protection against disease-causing strains and may confer indirect protection by impacting carriage and subsequent transmission. Factor H binding proteins (fHBPs), components of MnBvaccines in development, are classified into two immunologically distinct subfamilies (A and B). fHBP variants of MnB strains carried by adolescents are similar to those detected in infants with MnB disease. Avaccine containing subfamily A and B fHBP variants elicited bactericidal antibody responses (titers ? 1:4) against MnB strains expressing fHBP variants common to carriage strains and strains that cause disease in adolescents and infants in 75-100% of adolescent study subjects. This suggests that the bivalent fHBPvaccine has the potential to provide protection against invasive MnB strains and interrupt meningococcal carriage, which may also reduce infant MnB disease. © 2013 Landes Bioscience.