The bacterial pili are formed from the polymerisation of multiple copies of pilin proteins, referred to as T-antigens. TreeVax is a multivalent vaccine comprised of highly immunogenic pilin proteins from GAS.
The antigens selected for display radiate from this trunk like the branches of a tree, such that we have named the designed vaccine “TreeVax”. Under specific conditions, these scaffold proteins ligate to each other via ester bond crosslinking to form a covalently linked stalk like structure. The objective of this project was to develop a novel self-assembling GAS vaccine based on a protein scaffold which “glues” antigens together. The development of a GAS vaccine, however, has long been impeded by high strain diversity as well as concerns they could trigger the very diseases a vaccine aims to reduce. Globally, the disease burden of GAS is high with over 34 million cases of RHD each year resulting in over 345,000 deaths.
These health issues disproportionately affect people with lower socioeconomic status due to the effects of poverty and consequently are found at higher levels among Maori and Pasifika. Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections can result in a multitude of health problems ranging from systemic invasive infections such as necrotising fasciitis to immune-mediated diseases, including acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
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