Engineered protein shows potential as a strep vaccine

A University of California, San Diego-led research team has demonstrated that immunization with a stabilized version of a protein found on Streptococcus bacteria can supply protection against Strep infections, which afflict more than 600 million folks each year and kill 400,000. In the March 7 issue of the journal Science, the scientists describe, for the first date, the detailed structure of the streptococcal M protein, which is critical to the virulence of Group A Streptococcus (GAS). GAS causes a wide variety of human diseases including strep throat, rheumatic fever, and the life-threatening flesh-eating syndrome called necrotizing fasciitis. Studies were performed using M1 protein, which represents the version of M protein present on the most common disease-associated GAS strains……..

Original post by Heather Craven

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