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Vaccination with Acinetobacter baumannii adhesin Abp2D provides protection against catheter-associated urinary tract infection

Morgan R Timm, Kevin O. Tamadonfar, Taylor M. Nye, Jesús Bazán Villicaña, J. Pinkner, K. Dodson, A. Ellebedy, Scott J. Hultgren

Nature Communications, 2025

7 citations

Abstract

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) contribute greatly to the burden of healthcare-associated infections. Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative bacterium with high levels of antibiotic resistance that is of increasing concern as a CAUTI pathogen. A. baumannii expresses fibrinogen-binding adhesins (Abp1D and Abp2D) that mediate biofilm formation on catheters, which become coated with fibrinogen upon insertion. Here we develop a protein subunit vaccine against the Abp1D and Abp2D receptor binding domains (RBD) and show that vaccination significantly reduces bacterial titers in a female mouse model of CAUTI. We further demonstrate that immunity to Abp2DRBD alone is sufficient for protection. Mechanistically, we define the B cell response to Abp2DRBD vaccination, demonstrate that passive immunization with Abp2DRBD-immune serum transfers immunity to naïve mice, and show that Abp2DRBD-immune serum inhibits bacterial binding to fibrinogen-coated catheters. This work represents an antibiotic-sparing strategy for the prevention of A. baumannii CAUTI which has an important role in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance. Acinetobacter baumannii is a multi-drug-resistant pathogen of urgent international concern. Here, the authors develop a protein subunit vaccine which prevents A. baumannii catheter-associated urinary tract infections in mice by inhibiting Abp2D, a key adhesive virulence factor.

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