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Review
. 2024 Mar 14;37(1):e0009423.
doi: 10.1128/cmr.00094-23. Epub 2024 Jan 16.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae vaccines: a contemporary overview

Eloise Williams  1   2 , Kate L Seib  3 , Christopher K Fairley  4   5 , Georgina L Pollock  1 , Jane S Hocking  6 , James S McCarthy  1   7   8 , Deborah A Williamson  1   2   7
Affiliations
Review

Neisseria gonorrhoeae vaccines: a contemporary overview

Eloise Williams et al. Clin Microbiol Rev. .

Abstract

Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection is an important public health issue, with an annual global incidence of 87 million. N. gonorrhoeae infection causes significant morbidity and can have serious long-term impacts on reproductive and neonatal health and may rarely cause life-threatening disease. Global rates of N. gonorrhoeae infection have increased over the past 20 years. Importantly, rates of antimicrobial resistance to key antimicrobials also continue to increase, with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifying drug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae as an urgent threat to public health. This review summarizes the current evidence for N. gonorrhoeae vaccines, including historical clinical trials, key N. gonorrhoeae vaccine preclinical studies, and studies of the impact of Neisseria meningitidis vaccines on N. gonorrhoeae infection. A comprehensive survey of potential vaccine antigens, including those identified through traditional vaccine immunogenicity approaches, as well as those identified using more contemporary reverse vaccinology approaches, are also described. Finally, the potential epidemiological impacts of a N. gonorrhoeae vaccine and research priorities for further vaccine development are described.

Keywords: Neisseria gonorrhoeae; Neisseria meningitidis; controlled human infection model; public health; sexually transmitted diseases; vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

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