Active Immunization Against Endotoxin For Sepsis

Researchers in the USA have developed a chemically-formulated vaccine against the highly-conserved core structure of bacterial endotoxin, thought to be a primary factor involved in the development of Gram-negative sepsis, which has improved survival in animal models of sepsis.

The work was presented at the 36th Inter-science Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, this month.

The vaccine construct used in the animal studies consisted of a portion of lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli stain 011:J5 complexed with the outer membrane proteins of Neisseria meningitidis. Previously, investigations of passive immunization with immunoglobulin G raised against 011:J5 had shown some efficacy, but only when it was given in very high titers and very early on in the course of sepsis.