Possible Vaccine Target for Chlamydia

**Scientists at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a potential target for the development of a vaccine against Chlamydia trachomatis, the most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial infection in the world.** The researchers, led by Toni Darville, MD, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children's, identified a plasmid-deficient strain of Chlamydia that, when investigated in an animal model of genital tract infection, failed to cause disease. Plasmids are small **molecules of DNA**. Results of their study are published in the Sept. 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology. "This finding represents a major step forward in our work to eventually develop a vaccine against chlamydial disease," said Dr. Darville, senior author of the study and also a professor of pediatrics and microbiology/immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "If we can identify plasmid-deficient derivatives of the C. trachomatis strains that **infect humans**, they would have the potential to serve as a **vaccine** against this disease." Dr. Darville is considered one of the world?s foremost researchers of **Chlamydia trachomatis**, a bacterium which is the most frequently reported cause of sexually transmitted disease in the United States. Because symptoms are usually mild or absent, it can damage a womans **reproductive organs** and cause irreversible damage, including infertility, before a woman ever recognizes a problem. "For more information":[ http://www.bio.com/newsfeatures/newsfeatures_research.jhtml;jsessionid=XQZDZ2NFJJA33R3FQLMSFEWHUWBNQIV0?cid=33500013]

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