Associated parasite-bacterial engineered vaccines for Chagas Disease based on Trypanosoma cruzi antigenic proteins and secure bacterial components

PEREZ BRANDAN C; VAZQUEZ ME; ZABALA BA; MESIAS AC; PARODI C; CORBALÁN N; ACUÑA LA

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXXIII Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Protozoología; 2022

According to the World Health Organization, Neglected Tropical Diseases are common intropical regions and generally affect people that live in extreme poverty, with no access to cleanwater, and with scarce or absent medical assistance. Chagas Disease, endemic in the northof Argentina, is considered one of these disorders. Chemotherapy is possible, howeversevere adverse episodes and lack of effectiveness at the different stages of the infection have a negative impact on treatment adherence. On the other hand, great efforts with no evident success- have been made in relation to vaccine development against Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent responsible for this pathology. Fortunately, there is a fresh impetus to develop novel therapeutics and prophylactic strategies. At this point is where bacteria gain special attention. There is vast accumulated knowledge on how to manipulate them, since they have been used for so many years in scientific investigation. Their assets for research lie in their ease of use, rapid growth, low cost and the possibility of manipulating their genomes. For the last few years our group havebeen working in exploring different strategies for the development of a vaccine against ChagasDisease based on bacteria components. So far, we have evaluated the efficacy of geneticallyengineered bacteria outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) expressing different T. cruzi antigens inconferring protection against virulent infection in vaccinated animals. Our results suggest thatthe performance of recombinant OMVs as potential immunogen for Chagas Disease isworth considering and promising but deserves further studies. Additionally, we are evaluatingthe behavior of Lactobacillus genetically decorated with parasite antigens in a prime andboost classical protection scheme in a mouse model. We strongly believe that advances in thisarea may have a significant impact on the future prospects of populations affected by thesepathologies.