Upcoming vaccine against a multi-resistant bacterium

It is the third leading cause of hospital-acquired infections, the leading cause of death in cystic fibrosis, and increases mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by 50%. It caused 559,000 deaths in 2019. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium present in 30% of the population without causing any problems, but which can become virulent in certain cases. It currently presents resistance to multiple antibiotics, and no vaccine is available on the market.
Audrey Le Gouellec, a researcher at TIMC and hospital practitioner, has been studying the pathogenicity of this bacterium for years. In her laboratory, she is working to decipher the mysteries that cause it to express its virulence at certain times, with the ultimate aim of developing a treatment.

An original vaccine
She has also been working on an original vaccine that has attracted the attention of SATT Linksium. “Our vaccine is based on a dead but metabolically active bacterium,” explains Audrey Le Gouellec, a researcher at TIMC and hospital practitioner. “This means it can combine the efficacy of live attenuated vaccines with the safety of recombinant vaccines containing just a few epitopes. To obtain this modified bacterium, we subject it to a patented photochemical treatment, which renders it incapable of dividing.”
Created in November 2023 after a maturation and incubation phase supported by Linksium, Alpioner Therapeutics won the iLab competition the same year. Trials in mice show that the candidate vaccine elicits a complete and protective immune response. It remains to be tested in humans. To achieve this, the start-up is looking to raise funds to produce the vaccine in sufficient quantity and quality (GMP conditions) to be injected into patients. It hopes to enter phase 1 in 2025.

*CNRS, UGA, Grenoble INP – UGA, VetAgro Sup