July 26, 2011 -- Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door. Build a better pneumococcal vaccine and it could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center believe their discovery may do just that.

Rodney K. Tweten, PhD OU Presidential Professor George Lynn Cross Research Professor

Rodney Tweten, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the OU College of Medicine have discovered a new way to thwart a key toxin of the most common pneumonia-causing bacterium – Streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as “pneumococcus.”

Streptococcus pneumoniae causes pneumonia as well as dangerous infections of the brain and blood. It claims the lives of more than 800,000 children under age five each year globally.

Streptococcal bacteria attack the body by releasing a toxin called pneumolysin that damages the blood vessels in the lungs, causing bleeding into the air spaces.  The toxin takes hold by binding to cholesterol at the cell surface. It essentially drills a hole into the cell, morphs its structure in a way that prevents the body’s immune system from mounting an appropriate response and ultimately kills the cell.

Now, Tweten and his colleagues have developed a new form of the toxin that lacks the cholesterol-binding ability. This renders the toxin harmless while also prompting an appropriate immune response by the body.

The discovery could lead to a new type of vaccine that could be effective against many, if not all, strains of pneumococcus.

Current vaccines are effective against up to 23 of the more than 90 variations of pneumococcus,” said Tweten, a George Lynn Cross Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the OU College of Medicine. “This would make a much less expensive, but much more effective vaccine in terms of broad coverage.

OU’s Office of Technology Development recently licensed Tweten’s technology to PATH, an international non-profit organization whose pneumococcal vaccine project is working to accelerate the development of new pediatric pneumococcal vaccines that are affordable and accessible for the developing world.

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"This vaccine candidate could not only change how pneumococcal disease is prevented, but may also lay the foundation for new vaccine development strategies against many diseases involving this class of proteins,” said Jimmy Ballard, Ph.D., chair of  the OU College of Medicine’s Department of  Microbiology and Immunology.

Current pneumococcal vaccines are saving lives around the world but are relatively expensive to manufacture, which makes it difficult for low-resource countries to afford them without considerable assistance.

"Pneumococcus is a major cause of illness and death in children, and it is becoming more commonly antibiotic resistant. So this approach could be a very valuable worldwide contribution to the well-being of children,” said Terrence Stull, M.D., chair of Pediatrics at the OU College of Medicine.

The Office of Technology Development at the University of Oklahoma collaborates with OU researchers and the private sector to complement the academic process, commercialize OU technology and stimulate economic development in the state of Oklahoma.  Staffed by professionals with expertise in the Life Sciences, Information Technology, patent prosecution and strategy, technology transfer and licensing, OTD manages the life cycle of intellectual property commercialization for the University.

Media Contact: Susan Simpson
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