Xingmin Sun

Title : The challenges and status of vaccine development for Clostridioides difficile infection

Abstract:

Clostridioides difficile is a Gram-positive, spore-forming and toxin-producing anaerobic bacterium. It is the most common cause of nosocomial antibiotic-associated diarrhea and the etiologic agent of life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis in the developed world. In the US, C. difficile infection (CDI) caused 223,900 estimated hospitalizations,12,800 deaths and $5 billion healthcare costs in 2017. A continual rise in severe CDI has been observed worldwide. C. difficile is intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics, limiting treatment options. Currently, very limited antibiotics are available for the treatment of CDI, and none of them is fully effective with a recurrence rate of 15-35%. Prevention and treatment of recurrence is one of the major challenges in the field. CDI symptoms range from diarrhea to intestinal inflammation/lesion and death, and are mainly caused by two exotoxins TcdA and TcdB. Active vaccination provides the attractive opportunity to prevent CDI and recurrence. No vaccine against CDI is currently licensed. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to developing vaccines targeting both toxins. However, ideally, vaccines should target both toxins and C. difficile cells / spores that transmit the disease and cause recurrence. Furthermore, C. difficile is an enteric pathogen, and mucosal/oral immunization would be particularly useful to protect the host against CDI considering that the gut is the main site of disease onset and progression.  This talk will review current progress and remaining challenges in the field of C. difficile vaccines.
What will audience learn from your presentation?

• Pathogenesis of C. difficile infection
• Why it is important to develop vaccines against CDI?
• The challenges to develop an effective vaccine against CDI.
• The current status of vaccine development for C. difficile

Biography:

Dr. Sun is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine at the University of South Florida (USF). He holds courtesy appointments in the Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology & Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry at USF, and USF Genomics. He received his PhD in Natural Sciences from the University of Kiel, Germany, and his Master Degree in Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology from the Nanjing Agricultural University, China. He received his postdoctoral training in Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry at Brown University, USA. The research in his laboratory is focused on the pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile and the development of novel therapeutics including vaccines to prevent / treat C. difficile infection (CDI). ​​He was an NIH (National Institutes of Health) Career Development K01 Awardee. His laboratory has been continuously supported by the NIH. He has been actively serving NIH study section panels including chairing the NIH study section panel in 2020. He serves as an Associate Editor for “Molecular Medicine”, Associate topic editor for “Frontiers in Microbiology”, and editorial boards for “Infection and Immunity” and “Applied and Environmental Microbiology”. He received Tufts Institute for Innovation Inaugural Award in 2014. In 2018, he was awarded "Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Award" at USF. In 2019, he was awarded "Excellence in Innovation Award" at USF. He chaired the Research Committee of College of Medicine at USF from 2019 to 2020. Currently, he serves as the Vice President for the USF Chapter, National Academy of Inventors, USA.