Using mRNA vaccines to prevent UTI, cancers

The federal government has announced $19 million in funding to research projects aimed at finding mRNA vaccines to prevent cancer and urinary tract infections.

Preventing UTI

A team from the University of Technology Sydney, will receive $1.8 million from the Medical Research Future Fund’s (MRFF) Global Health Initiative to develop an mRNA vaccine to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by the Escherichia coli — or E. coli — bacteria, the most common cause of community acquired UTIs.

E. coli bacteria are currently treatable with antibiotics, but some strains are already resistant to antibiotics and, as more become resistant, new forms of treatment will be needed.

A successful mRNA vaccine would teach the body’s immune system to recognise and fight the bacteria, preventing most UTIs from recurring.

It is hoped the project will lead to clinical trials in the next three years with people who suffer very frequent UTIs, including patients who use catheters for extended time periods such as those with a loss of bladder control through spinal cord injuries.

Branwen Morgan, Lead of the Minimising Antimicrobial Resistance Mission at CSIRO, said as the rates of antimicrobial resistance continue to rise, UTIs are becoming harder to treat and often recur.

mRNA technology was selected due to its potential advantages in eliciting immune responses against bacteria that have demonstrated resilience to conventional vaccine strategies.

“This is a new approach to bacterial vaccine development that we believe will save time and money by creating a streamlined and efficient workflow,” Morgan said.

“Vaccines for drug-resistant pathogens are one of the Minimising Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Mission’s priorities — not just in humans but in animals too.

“Many of the considerations for the design and manufacture of human and animal vaccines are the same.

“More broadly, we have an aim to accelerate the development and implementation of AMR solutions as well as grow public and private investment into this research space because time is running out and the R&D pipeline for new antibiotics will not keep pace with clinical need,” Morgan said.

Vaccine delivery, cancer prevention

A team from the University of Queensland (UQ) will receive $3.3 million to create a facility in Brisbane to design, make and deliver mRNA vaccines and evaluate their use against cancers.

The UQ project will explore their effectiveness against a range of cancers where few other treatments are available. mRNA vaccines have been shown to target mutated proteins in pancreatic tumours and have potential against other cancers.

The vaccine production facility will aim to enable Australian researchers to conduct world-leading research on mRNA vaccines and develop new therapies for a range of cancers.

The University of Queensland project is one of five projects funded under the Medical Research Future Fund’s National Critical Research Infrastructure Initiative, which all seek to build out the infrastructure required to safely develop, test and evaluate mRNA therapies and vaccines.

The MRFF is a $22 billion long-term federal government investment supporting Australian health and medical research.

Production, research infrastructure

Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said, “Cancer affects so many families, and mRNA vaccines are a promising new approach. This funding will create the infrastructure to produce and research mRNA cancer vaccines right here in Australia.

“As antibiotics are becoming ineffective because of antimicrobial resistance, finding a new way to treat recurring infections like UTIs would be a major breakthrough for patients here in Australia, but also in neighbouring countries in the Asia–Pacific.”

Image credit: iStock.com/DrAfter123