Project 3: Biomarkers of Chlamydial Susceptibility and Disease

Principal Investigators: Catherine O’Connell, PhD, and Xiaojing Zheng, PhD

Co-Investigators: Quefeng Li, PhD, Xinxia Peng, PhD, and Tim Waterboer, PhD

The rationale for this project is that identifying biomarkers of susceptibility to ascending infection and risk for subsequent immune pathology will accelerate rational vaccine design and testing by: 1) identifying individuals most likely benefiting from immunization to facilitate appropriately powered study design, 2) enabling balanced selection of groups when recruiting for vaccine trials, and 3) serving as measures of vaccine efficacy. We anticipate determining biomarkers that will translate directly to anti-chlamydial vaccine evaluation in humans, and others that can be used to identify women most likely to benefit from a preventative vaccine.