Vaccine development for the prevention of urinary tract infections

Abstract

The effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis for recurrent urinary tract infections is being compromised as increasing numbers of uropathogens develop resistance to conventional antibiotics. Because one alternative to antibiotic therapy is immunization of susceptible patients to increase innate resistance, several different vaccines are currently being developed. Four of the vaccines contain a mixture of whole bacteria or an antigenic extract and are administered as a vaginal suppository or oral tablet. A parenteral route is being used in clinical trials of the Escherichia coli type 1 fimbrial adhesin and its chaperone protein. The safety of both the mucosal and parenteral vaccines has been demonstrated in phase 1 clinical trials. Phase 2 trials have shown the efficacy of a vaginal mucosal vaccine containing whole bacteria and an oral vaccine prepared from bacterial lysates. Further clinical trials will allow comparisons of the various vaccines and evaluation of their effectiveness relative to prophylactic antibiotic therapy.