Novel Clinical Trials: Re-imagining An mRNA-Based Lyme Disease Vaccine Using Tick Saliva

Lyme disease is the most commonly reported tick-borne illness in the United States and the worldwide burden of Lyme disease has increased in recent years, extending into much of central Europe and parts of Asia. The disease, which presents as an autoimmune disorder, is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Up until very recently, all efforts in developing a Lyme vaccine have focused on the pathogen, such as Pfizer and Valneva’s candidate currently in phase 2, VLA15, which is a multivalent protein subunit vaccine targeting the outer surface protein A of B. burgdorferi. A new mRNA vaccine, however, may introduce a novel way to prevent the transmission of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses: rather than target the pathogen, researchers hope to train the immune system to respond to the presence of tick saliva.