Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Vaccines and immunotherapy.

Among opportunistic infections with gram-negative bacilli, those caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa are associated with particularly high mortalities. Accordingly, considerable interest exists to develop immunotherapeutic or immunoprophylactic agents for this pathogen. In vitro as well as in vivo studies in animal models have demonstrated that LPS serotype-specific antibodies against P. aeruginosa confer protection. Thus, cell wall-derived LPS P. aeruginosa vaccines have been developed for active immunization. Toxic side effects from LPS and relatively slow immune response to active immunization in patients needing rapid protection have led to the development of high-titered anti-P. aeruginosa immunoglobulin G preparations. Passive immunotherapy with these polyclonal antibody preparations has shown promising results in animal models and in clinical pilot studies. More recently, murine and human monoclonal antibodies against P. aeruginosa have been developed. These preparations offer the potential advantage over polyclonal globulin preparations of low protein dosages and virtually unlimited supply.