The potential for using protein vaccines to protect against otitis media caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae

Potential vaccine strategies against otitis media are to prevent (I) sympto matic infections in the middle ear and/or (2) carriage of pneumococci and t hereby subsequent middle ear infections. The possibility of using immunity to virulence proteins of pneumococci to elicit immunity against pneumococci has been examined. PspA, has been found to have efficacy against otitis me dia in animals. Vaccination with a mixture of PsaA and PspA has been observ ed to offer better protection against nasal carriage in mice, than vaccinat ion with either protein alone. PspA and pneumolysin have been shown to elic it protection against invasive infections. The inclusion of a few of these proteins into the polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines may be able to enhance their efficacy against otitis media and might be able to constitute a successful all-protein pneumococcal vaccine. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.