# Developing effective nanovaccines against pathogenic Escherichia coli

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · 2021 · $237,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Our scientific contribution to the field of pathogenic Escherichia coli research has been to accelerate the
development of an effective vaccine, using novel antigens and murine models of intestinal infection, that can
not only protect against enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) O157:H7 but also prevent colonization of other
pathogenic E. coli infections. Therefore, the long-term goal of our study is to provide new fundamental
knowledge regarding pathogenic E. coli colonization, while elucidating protective immune responses that can
be incorporated in the development of a vaccine. The central hypothesis of our proposal is that novel antigens
coupled to nanovaccines will be immunogenic, and stimulation of protective antibodies will disrupt colonization
by different pathogenic E. coli strains. This hypothesis is based on the strong experimental premise
demonstrating that gold nanoparticles coupled to surface-exposed EHEC antigens (defined by our bio-
immunoinformatic approach) elicited host immune responses that correlate with reduction in the intestinal
colonization by EHEC O157:H7. Our progress in recent years demonstrated that coupling antigens to gold
nanoparticles significantly enhances protective immunity against EHEC O157:H7 infection, and the serum from
vaccinated mice reduces adherence/virulence of enteropathogenic E. coli O127:H6 and enteroaggregative E.
coli O104:H4. Our proposed experimental approach will focus on two reproducible and scientifically sound
aims: Optimize a gold nanoparticle vaccine containing antigens that prevent EHEC infections (Aim 1), and
elucidate the immune responses required to prevent colonization and test cross-protective properties against
other pathogenic E. coli strains (Aim 2). This work is significant because it is expected to provide advancement
in the development of a fully protective gold nanoparticle vaccine that prevents infections caused by EHEC
O157:H7, and such a vaccine will also be effective at targeting other pathogenic E. coli strains, without
affecting the commensal E. coli microbiota. This study will elucidate the common links in the virulence
mechanisms of these bacterial pathogens, which can then be used for the development of pathogenic E. coli-
specific mucosal vaccines.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10300897
- **Project number:** 1R21AI155844-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Alfredo G Torres
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $237,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-06-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10300897

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10300897, Developing effective nanovaccines against pathogenic Escherichia coli (1R21AI155844-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10300897. Licensed CC0.

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