Navy Researcher Shares US Patent for New Vaccine

By Doris Ryan, Naval Medical Research Center Public Affairs

June 7, 2010 - SILVER SPRING, Md. (NNS) -- A Navy Medicine researcher will share a U.S. patent for her work in developing a vaccine against diarrheal disease.

Dr. Patricia Guerry, from Naval Medical Research Center's Infectious Diseases Directorate, is one of two inventors, to develop a promising novel vaccine against Campylobacter jejuni. Infectious diarrhea has historically been a substantial cause of illness for deployed service members and continues to be a scourge today. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, headaches and muscle and joint pain.

"High tempo operations require the greatest level of physical and mental performance, often under environmental conditions marked by poor sanitation which in turn is associated with high rates of acute gastrointestinal illness that can temporarily incapacitate the warfighter," said Capt. Stephen Savarino, head of the Joint Army/Navy Enteric Diseases Research Program. "Effective countermeasures require preventive vaccines against the most common causes of diarrhea and dysentery."

"Campylobacter is a food-borne illness and sources of the disease include contaminated water, dairy and poultry products," said Guerry. "Even when a Campylobacter illness is recognized and antibiotics are started it can take another few days for relief of all symptoms. In military populations the illness can dramatically impair job performance. Moreover, it can trigger a range of serious health problems that occur after the acute infection. This vaccine is designed to stimulate an immune response in the body that prevents Campylobacter diarrhea and its sequelae."

There currently are no licensed vaccines against Campylobacter jejuni but this breakthrough has paved the way for testing in humans with a Phase 1 clinical trial, projected for fiscal year 2012-2013.

Guerry and her collaborator applied a conjugate approach to Campylobacter jejuni and this vaccine conferred full protection in a laboratory model providing an early proof of the vaccines' potential. Capsule conjugate vaccines have been one of the most successful modern vaccine approaches. Many respiratory pathogens coat their surface with a polysaccharide or sugar capsule. Chemical conjugation of the capsule to a protein enhances its immunogenicity and such conjugate vaccines provide robust protection against a number of mucosal pathogens. Campylobacter jejuni is very unusual for an enteric pathogen in that is also expresses a polysaccharide capsule.

The Naval Medical Research Center's Office of Legal and Technology Services promotes innovative discoveries made by Navy Medicine's researchers and scientists. The team supports over eight naval research laboratories throughout the U.S. and around the world, plus all of the Navy Military Treatment Facilities.

Since 1999, the team has managed over 150 patents and applications that cover a wide range of technologies. Fields of research from the biomedical, environmental, dental, aerospace, and biological warfare defense industries focus on finding solutions to both conventional and battlefield medical problems. Many of these technologies have affected the lives of millions around the world in the form of vaccines, hand-held assays, molecular diagnostics, and confirmatory analysis.