New efficient and innovative vaccine against gastric ulcer and gastric cancer

Helicobacter pylori (HP) is a global health problem since a large amount of the population is infected with the bacteria and many develop gastric ulcers and gastric cancers as a result of this infection. At present, treatment against HP involves a combination of several kinds of antibiotics and inhibition of the gastric acid pump. This treatment is associated with a number of disadvantages: Primarily, it doesn't protect against re-infection, which is very prevalent. Furthermore, it may also contribute to the increasing problem of bacteria resistant against antibiotics. Large efforts have therefore been invested in creating an efficient vaccine against the bacteria, but all attempts have so far failed.

It is possible that previous vaccination attempts failed because only single HP antigens were used. MIVAC Development will therefore explore a new approach involving two very potent protective HP antigens, a variant of HpaA and UreB, combined in the vaccine. The HpaA antigen has not previously been utilized to develop a HP vaccine since purification of the protein requires potentially toxic detergents. But the inventors within MIVAC have now developed a truncated version of HpaA called HpaA_trunc, which is easily expressed in E. coli and which can be purified without the use of detergents. Proof-of-concept studies of the antigens HpaA_trunc and UreB have shown that the antigens, when studied separately, are protective in a mouse model. However, the level of protection is even higher when the two antigens are combined in the same vaccine. MIVAC Development will now continue the process of developing this novel concept into a commercial HP-vaccine.