Anthrax vaccines

About: Anthrax vaccines is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 685 publications have been published within this topic receiving 21495 citations.

Comparative evaluation of protective antigen produced from Bacillus anthracis & Escherichia coli

Abstract: Interpretation & conclusion: The purified PA preparations obtained in the present study may possibly be utilized for detection of anti-PA antibodies in the sera of anthrax patients for timely diagnosis of the disease and, might also be tested for their efficacy and use as human anthrax vaccine

Scientific evidence supports anthrax vaccination.

Abstract: A commentary by Meryl Nass that describes anthrax vaccination as unsafe and ineffective1 repeats assertions made by the author in previous settings,2–3 assertions that have been considered and dismissed by multiple government experts and civilian scientific committees.4–5 Critically, it neglects a recent review by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the scientific evidence for the safety and effectiveness of this vaccine.4 Thoughtful readers will appreciate the scrutiny applied by the IOM in its review. Not surprisingly, the institute gives more weight to cohort studies than to case reports. Regarding the vaccine’s effectiveness, the IOM review states, . . . the available evidence from studies with humans and animals, coupled with reasonable assumptions of analogy, shows that AVA [anthrax vaccine adsorbed] as licensed is an effective vaccine for the protection of humans against anthrax, including inhalational anthrax, caused by all known or plausible engineered strains of B. anthracis.4 As to the safety of the anthrax vaccine, the review has this to say: The committee found no evidence that people face an increased risk of experiencing life-threatening or permanently disabling adverse events immediately after receiving AVA, when compared with the general population. Nor did it find any convincing evidence that people face elevated risk of developing adverse health effects over the longer term, although data are limited in this regard (as they are for all vaccines).4 The Lancet quotes IOM Committee to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of the Anthrax Vaccine chariman Brian Strom as saying, “If we had a bias to begin with, it probably was against the military. I felt we just had to turn over the right stone and we’d find a smoking gun out there. But we didn’t find it, and we looked hard.”6 The commentary omits several useful facts. Every lot of anthrax vaccine used in the United States met US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lot-release specifications, both before and after the FDA’s January 2002 approval of the manufacturer’s renovations.4 The FDA quality-control requirements specified in 1999, before the anthrax vaccine shortage developed, were the same requirements met in 2002.4 In addition, a May 2001 trial of an Air Force physician who disobeyed his commanding officer by refusing vaccination began with 1.5 days of testimony by Nass, testimony that the judge eventually ruled as having no material value to the jury. Anthrax vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine, in the considered opinions of America’s most accomplished scientists. The scientific evidence to support this finding appears in the IOM report for all to read.

Asporogenic recombinant producer of anthrax protective antigen

Abstract: An asporogenic recombinant strain Bacillus anthracis 55ΔTPA-1(Spo−) producing anthrax protective antigen (PA) was obtained. The strain contains structural gene pag as a part of a hybrid replicon pUB110PA-1 and lacks determinants encoding the synthesis of main factors of anthrax pathogenicity. The level of PA production by asporogenic genetically engineered strain is approximately 80 μg/ml that is 4–5 times more than the values determined for vaccine strains B. anthracis STI-1 and B. anthracis 55. The strain preserves asporogenicity and ability to replicate the hybrid plasmid after in vitro passages. Biologically active PA was isolated from the constructed strain B. anthracis 55ΔTPA-1(Spo−). Double immunization of rabbits with 50 μg of the purified recombinant product provides their 100% protection from infection with 50 LD50 of a highly virulent anthrax strain.

Methods, compositions and kits comprising attenuated anthrax vaccines and methods of delivery

Abstract: The present invention includes an attenuated Bacillus anthracis vaccine strain comprising a deletion in a nucleic acid encoding lethal factor and a deletion in a nucleic acid encoding PI-PLC or an attenuated Bacillus anthracis vaccine strain comprising a deletion in a nucleic acid encoding lethal factor and a deletion in edema factor. The present invention further comprises a method of immunizing a mammal against a Bacillus anthracis infection comprising administering the spores of an attenuated Bacillus anthracis vaccine strain intranasally.