DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL LYME VACCINE

A collaborative effort between Lyme MCW and Lochhead Scientific

Lochhead Scientific (LS) has recently synthesized a two-component conjugate vaccine candidate that combines OspA with a highly immunogenic T cell antigen that was identified through research conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) (Insert patent #) (Danner et al., 2024). This immunodominant T cell antigen is derived from the broadly conserved methyl-accepting transducer domain (MATD) from the Bb chemotaxis protein Mcp4. LS’s vaccine candidate consists of the Mcp4 MATD as the T-cell immunogen linked to OspA as the B-cell immunogen. 

Significance

There is an urgent and unmet need for a safe and effective Lyme disease (LD) vaccine (Plotkin, 2016). The LD pandemic is expanding unabated, with an estimated global seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection of 14.5% (Dong et al., 2022). In the U.S., there are nearly 500,000 cases of LD annually (Kugeler et al., 2021). LD-related health care costs in the U.S. are as high as $1.3 billion each year (Adrion et al., 2015). Current vaccine candidates in development block transmission of Bb by targeting the outer surface protein A (OspA) as the B cell immunogen (Wormser, 2022) Although safe and modestly effective, OspA-based vaccines only provide short-term protection and require frequent boosts (Steere, 1998) (Schoen et al., 2003). Lochhead Scientific’s novel two-component conjugate vaccine candidate incorporates both T cell and B cell immunogens to boost long-term efficacy by generating high-affinity, long-lasting antibody responses to OspA.

Previous & Current Lyme Vaccine Candidates

LYMErix™

VALOR