Urinary tract infection vaccine closer

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers developing a vaccine to prevent urinary tract infections due to E. coli bacteria say the bacteria behave differently in women than in mice.

Scientists at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor say their genetic studies indicated specific surface structures of the E. coli found in mouse infections considered key to the bacteria thriving were not found in great numbers in the human samples.

"If we want to prevent infections in humans, we need to look at what's going on with the bacteria while it's in humans," study senior investigator Harry Mobley said in a statement. "We're not looking to make the world safer for mice."

Mobley and colleagues, who published a study last year showing the vaccine prevented urinary infections in mice, said the differences in gene expression in the mouse and human samples were significant but the key targets of the vaccine related to iron acquisition were similar and raise the hopes -- albeit several years away -- the vaccine will work in humans.

The study was published in PLoS Pathogens.