Peru-15-pCTB

Peru-15-pCTB is a live, attenuated oral vaccine candidate developed as a bivalent vaccine for cholera and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). It is derived from the parent strain Peru-15, which was engineered to overexpress the nontoxic B subunit of cholera toxin (CT-B) by inserting a plasmid carrying the ctxB gene. This modification results in significantly higher secretion of CT-B compared to the original strain. The rationale behind this design is that CT-B shares high homology with ETEC's heat-labile toxin B subunit (LT-B), enabling cross-protection against both cholera and LT-expressing ETEC strains. Preclinical studies demonstrated that Peru-15-pCTB elicits robust antitoxin immune responses and neutralizing antibodies in animal models, with clinical trials showing strong immunogenicity and safety profiles in humans[1][6][7][9]. The vaccine is administered as a single oral dose.