Clostridium difficile infection prevention: biotherapeutics, immunologics, and vaccines

We are in the midst of a resurgence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in North America and Europe for which morbidity and mortality are higher than ever seen. C. difficile has risen in frequency to become the most common healthcare-associated infection pathogen, exceeding methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in many hospitals. Protection against CDI is thought to be mediated first by the normal bacterial microbiota, supplemented by an adaptive immune antibody response directed primarily at C. difficile toxins. Treatment of CDI is with antimicrobials that also further disrupt the protective bacterial microbiota leaving the patient susceptible to recurrent CDI. In addition, patients most susceptible to CDI, the advanced elderly, may already have a limited immune response and fail to increase their adaptive immune response with infection. The importance of both of these protective modalities has been demonstrated by 1) the success of fecal microbiota to restore "colonization resistance" for patients with multiple recurrences of CDI, and 2) the marked reduction in CDI recurrences with the use of intravenous monoclonal antibodies directed against toxin A and toxin B as an adjunct to antimicrobial treatment. Anti-toxin vaccines, passive monoclonal anti-toxin antibodies, and non-toxigenic C. difficile (to restore colonization resistance) are already undergoing patient clinical trials. The opportunity to prevent CDI is compelling and future research should focus on understanding the critical elements of the microbiota needed to restore colonization resistance and on development of novel immunologic strategies that include systemic and mucosal vaccines and passive immune modulators.