UTI vax on horizon after Covid mRNA breakthrough

It’s a painful, recurring infection that is increasingly resistant to antibiotics, but the first MRNA jab for the condition could be on the horizon.

Australians could be vaccinated against urinary tract infections — which affects half of all women — if our bid to develop the world’s first mRNA jab for the condition is successful.

Researchers hope the jab, which will use the same breakthrough technology made famous by the Covid vaccines, will spare people from contracting painful, and in many cases, recurring infections that are increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

Their efforts have been boosted by a $1.8m federal government grant, which will fund work on the vaccine’s formula, plus further research into the infections themselves.

Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection deputy director Iain Duggin told the Herald Sun non-mRNA vaccines were not very effective for UTIs, and their ultimate goal would be to develop a jab suitable for a population-wide immunisation program.

But the University of Technology Sydney Professor said their initial focus would be on helping spinal cord injury patients, who are particularly at risk, and could participate in trials in as little three years.

“These patients are frequently in hospital with a UTI,” Professor Duggin said.

Health authorities are increasingly worried about difficult to treat bacteria. Picture: Sebastian Kaulitzki

He said a successful vaccine – which would target the bacteria responsible for up to 90 per cent of UTIs – could also help tackle antibiotic resistance by reducing demand for the drugs.

“We hope that it helps prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance to all sorts of diseases, because bacteria are very good at sharing the genes that are needed for becoming resistant,” he said.

The project, led by the institute and the CSIRO, was one of six mRNA projects to share in more than $19m in federal funding.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the chosen projects were “world-class” and antibiotics were becoming “ineffective”.

“Finding a new way to treat recurring infections like UTIs would be a major breakthrough for patients here in Australia, but also here in neighbouring countries in the Asia-Pacific,” he said.

CSIRO Professor Branwen Morgan said time was “running out” to fight antibiotic resistance, highlighting the importance of their “new approach” to vaccine development.

Professor Duggin said the vaccine was important because our body’s immune response to UTIs didn’t always work well and the bacteria could “hide”, leading to repeated, “debilitating” and sometimes life-threatening infections.

“We think the vaccine can sidestep that response,” he said.

The ‘m’ in mRNA stands for ‘messenger’, with the naturally-occurring molecule essentially used to deliver instructions within our cells.

Prof Duggin said the vaccine would instruct our body to make our own, harmless version of a UTI-causing bacteria component, so that our immune system can learn to recognise it.

“Then when the bacteria are introduced into the urinary tract, the immune response is ready,” he said.

“It’s really a case of prevention being better than treatment.”

He said another benefit of a vaccine was that it would be designed to target the UTI-causing bacteria, and – unlike antibiotics, not destroy the other, good bacteria in our body.

Originally published as UTI vax on horizon after Covid mRNA breakthrough