2020_02_27_CIE_yadira_pastor

Yadira Pastor, Biochemistry and PhD from the University of Navarra, has developed in her doctoral thesis a vaccine to help curb Shigellosis, a diarrheal disease that causes more than 200,000 deaths a year, according to data of the World Health Organization. This same organization indicates that this disease, which is transmitted by contaminated food and water, is one of the main causes of infant mortality in developing countries development. 

The novelty of this research lies in the study of a vaccine in subunits, based on the employment of Outer Membrane Vesicles of the bacterium Shigella. The young researcher from Navarra has set up the instructions in the development of this vaccine trying to make it "safe, effective, easy to obtain and with the potential for large-scale production". In addition, Pastor has taken into account different routes of administration of the vaccine that avoid the use of needles in order to avoid pain and discomfort in the patient, to favor self-administration and mass vaccination, as well as to reduce the use of biological waste generated after its use. "The easily accessible routes of administration are painless and are capable of generating a good immunological response after vaccination," says Pastor.

Thus, the proposal of its research is based on the employment of immunostimulant gels in the case of nasal administration, or micro-patches for the intradermal route. "Both routes have shown very promising results in mice that, after being vaccinated by both routes, were protected against an experimental infection with Shigella, the bacterium that causes bacterial dysentery," adds Dr. Pastor.  

This research -in preclinical phase- needs new programs of study to prove its efficacy before it can be transferred to humans. Yadira Pastor has laid the foundations for the development of this vaccine by carrying out trials in cells and rodents. "Certain parameters still need to be determined to confirm the efficacy of this vaccine, such as long-term immunity deadline (report immunological) or cross-protection against other species that could broaden its range of action".  

At the moment there is no effective vaccine to combat Shigellosis, a disease endemic in developing countries development in areas such as Africa, South America or Asia, although it is increasingly present in industrialized countries.