title: Towards a Chlamydia trachomatis vaccine: how close are we?
abstract: Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted infections and preventable blindness worldwide. The incidence of chlamydial sexually transmitted infections has increased rapidly and current antibiotic therapy has failed as an intervention strategy. The most accepted strategy for protection and/or control of chlamydial infections is a vaccine that induces both local neutralizing antibodies to prevent infections by the extracellular elementary bodies and a cell-mediated immune response to target the intracellular infection. This article will discuss the challenges in vaccine design for the prevention of chlamydial urogenital infection and/or disease, including selection of target antigens, discussion of effective delivery systems, immunization routes and adjuvants for induction of protective immunity at the targeted mucosal surface whilst minimizing severe inflammatory disease sequelae.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cochrane
authors.forename: Charles W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Armitage
authors.forename: Connor P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: O'Meara
authors.forename: Kenneth W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Beagley
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines