Isherwood Karen E, Titball Richard W, Davies D Huw, Felgner Phillip L, Morrow W John W
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2005 Jun 17;57(9):1403-14. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2005.01.030.
Francisella tularensis is the etiologic agent of tularemia, a severe debilitating disease of humans and animals. The low infectious dose of F. tularensis in humans and the relative ease of culture are probably the properties which originally attracted interest in this bacterium as a bioweapon. Even today, F. tularensis is ranked as one of the pathogens most likely to be used as a biological warfare or bioterrorism agent. A live attenuated vaccine (LVS) has been available for over 50 years, but there are shortcomings associated with its use. This vaccine is not fully licensed and does not offer a high level of protection against respiratory challenge. Nevertheless, this vaccine does demonstrate the feasibility of vaccination against tularemia. Protection against tularemia is likely to be dependent on the induction of cellular and humoral immune responses. These types of responses are induced by the LVS vaccine and could also be induced by a rationally attenuated mutant of F. tularensis. Evoking this range of responses with a sub-unit vaccine may be more difficult to achieve, and will be dependent on the use of suitable vaccine delivery systems.
土拉弗朗西斯菌是兔热病的病原体，兔热病是一种使人和动物衰弱的严重疾病。土拉弗朗西斯菌在人类中的感染剂量低且相对易于培养，这些特性可能是最初使其作为生物武器引起人们兴趣的原因。即使在今天，土拉弗朗西斯菌仍是最有可能被用作生物战或生物恐怖主义制剂的病原体之一。一种减毒活疫苗（LVS）已经问世50多年了，但使用它存在一些缺点。这种疫苗未获得完全许可，对呼吸道感染的防护水平不高。然而，这种疫苗确实证明了接种疫苗预防兔热病的可行性。预防兔热病可能依赖于诱导细胞免疫和体液免疫反应。这些类型的反应可由LVS疫苗诱导，也可由土拉弗朗西斯菌的合理减毒突变体诱导。用亚单位疫苗引发这一系列反应可能更难实现，这将取决于使用合适的疫苗递送系统。
