Training young scientists to combat antibiotic resistance by exploring wall teichoic acids (WTA) as a potential target for vaccines and immune-based therapies against bacterial infections.
WHO WE ARE
AUREUS is a multidisciplinary, intersectoral MSCA Doctoral Training Network, composed of 11 academic groups and 7 non-academic institutions, of which 5 are companies. The consortium, together with 15 doctoral candidates, is working towards finding a way to counteract multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.
We aim to train a new generation of 15 researchers to be future leaders in both industry and academia, and who will be ready to enter the job market as a highly qualified workforce in the field of chemical biology.
Antibiotic resistance is a major health threat. As reported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the impact of antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe is comparable to that of influenza, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined. It was estimated that the global number of antibiotic-resistant attributable deaths will rise by 70% in the upcoming 25 years.
In 2019, antimicrobial-resistant infections caused over 1.2 million deaths worldwide, with more than 100,000 linked to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which was a significant cause of death in hospitals and communities.
THE NEED
THE GAP
Current antibody therapies and vaccines for MRSA have not succeeded in clinical trials, indicating a lack of understanding of how to induce protective immunity against this bacterium.
The immune factors that protect against S. aureus remain unclear, including the bacterial antigens that can be best targeted for vaccination and ways to enhance durable and effective immunity.
We urgently need better insights into what aspects of the human immune system are critical to eliminate S. aureus to develop effective immune-based therapies and vaccines.
Developing effective vaccines relies on identifying conserved and immunogenic antigens. While vaccines targeting bacterial surface carbohydrates like capsular polysaccharides (CPS) have been successful for other pathogens (e.g., Haemophilus influenzae type b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Neisseria meningitidis), attempts to develop a protective vaccine for S. aureus, targeting CPS, have failed in clinical settings. Underlying reasons for these failures include low or absent capsule expression in infection, the presence of pre-existing immunity or lack of representative animal models, causing poor translation to humans.
Wall teichoic acids (WTAs) are glycosylated cell wall components with limited structural variation that are expressed in the cell wall of many Gram-positive bacteria. These structures play a crucial role in bacterial physiology and host interactions, including colonization and pathogenesis.
Due to their abundant presence on the S. aureus surface and critical role in bacterial survival, antibiotic resistance, and pathogenicity, WTA are promising candidates for vaccine development and potential targets for new antibacterial strategies.
Understanding how S. aureus WTA functions during infections and how the immune system recognizes it is crucial for expanding treatment options and developing new diagnostic tools.