A pneumococcal vaccine combination with two proteins containing PspA families 1 and 2 can potentially protect against a wide range of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains

Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important pathogen accounting for a large number of deaths worldwide. Despite the multitude of capsular polysaccharide vaccines used to guard against pneumococcal disease, fatal pneumococcal disease remains epidemic due to the narrow range of protection afforded by the capsular polysaccharide vaccines and rate of change in serotypes. The most promising solution is to develop an improved protein-based vaccine with broad protection. In this study, we tested a bivalent vaccine containing antigens mixed with the fusion protein PsaA-pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA)23 and single protein PspA4, including conserved PsaA and PspA from clades 2, 3, and 4 with coverage for families 1 and 2. The vaccine induced a significant increase of anti-PspA IgG, which demonstrated cross-reactivity with the 22 different S. pneumoniae strains from serotypes contained in PPV23 by Western blot. The wide ranging protection was determined by challenging mice with S. pneumoniae from PspA clades 1 to 5. Bacterial loads in the blood and lung and survival rate after challenge were measured. After immunization, the number of bacteria in mice was significantly reduced. The clearance rates with all strains were greater than 90% in the lung, and bacterial loads in the blood were decreased to lower than 10 CFU/ml. The survival rates in immunized animals also were greatly increased (all over 50%) compared with controls. Therefore, this bivalent PspA vaccine may be a good substitute for capsular polysaccharide vaccines.