C. difficile mucosal vaccine

A preclinical multivalent mucosal vaccine candidate developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center under the VANDy-CdV initiative. The vaccine is designed to target Clostridioides difficile at its site of infection in the colon. It combines novel surface antigens present on C. difficile in both its vegetative (active, growing, and toxin-producing) and spore (dormant, resistant, and transmissible) states, alongside genetically inactivated C. difficile toxins TcdA and TcdB. Administered rectally to mimic mucosal immunization, the vaccine elicits a localized mucosal immune response (including fecal IgG and colonic Th17-skewed tissue-resident memory T cells) that clears both vegetative bacteria and spores, providing sterilizing immunity and protecting against tissue damage, illness, and recurrence in animal models.

Other names

Clostridioides difficile mucosal vaccineVANDy-CdV mucosal vaccineVANDy-CdV vaccine