Stabilised proteins for immunising against Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Elimination of disulphide bond formation ofcysteine-containing S.aureus antigens enhances antigen stability. The invention provides a composition comprising variant forms of cysteine-containing S.aureus antigen with a point mutation that replaces, deletes or modifies the cysteine residue.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application 61 / 695,782, filed August 31, 2012, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. technical field [0002] The present invention relates to immunogenic compositions comprising antigens derived from Staphylococcus aureus and their use in immunization. Background technique [0003] Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive coccus and is a major cause of bloodstream, lower respiratory tract and skin and other soft tissue infections. It causes illnesses ranging from mild skin infections to fatal illnesses including pneumonia and sepsis, and causes more annual deaths in the United States associated with S. aureus than any other infectious disease, including HIV / AIDS. [0004] There are currently no approved vaccines against S. aureus. In a phase III clinical trial in 2005, the vaccine StaphVAX based on a mixture of surface polysaccharides from bacteria types 5 and 8 was c...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Antigenic instability is undesirable because (1) this prevents vaccines from being stored for extended periods of time prior to administration, and (2) inconsistencies between vaccine batches can affect quality and regulatory approval requirements

Furthermore, the production of vaccines containing these unstable antigens can be complicated and involve multiple purification steps

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