Outer Membrane Vesicles of Bacteria: Acellular Vaccine Candidates

Abstract

ABSTRACT
In the recent years, outer membrane vesicles have been proven as promising vaccine candidates offering cross protective immunity against related bacterial species/serovars. Outer membrane vesicles (OMV) are nano-scale spherical vesicles of 20-300 nm in diameter secreted by pathogenic and non-pathogenic gram negative bacteria. OMVs are basically non-living facsimiles of the bacterial cell surface, naturally containing multiple native surface-exposed antigens as well as immunostimulatory molecules. They are safe owing to their non-replicative acellular characteristics. LPS, a major component of OMVs act as adjuvant. OMV based vaccines against Neisseria meningitides has been proven safe and licensed for human use in Cuba, Norway and New Zealand. Apart from this, OMVs from various bacterial species have been experimented in animal models and found to be immunogenic and cross protective. Thus, they proved to be effective vaccine candidates against challenging bacterial diseases affecting human and animals.

Keywords: Outer membrane vesicles, bacteria, vaccine, secretion, adjuvant

Cite this Article: Sophia Inbaraj. Outer Membrane Vesicles of Bacteria: Acellular Vaccine Candidates. International Journal of Cell Biology and Cellular Processes. 2019; 5(2): 35–38.