Journal of Emerging Scholarship

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and a major threat to individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Currently, treatment options for C. difficile (CD) are available post-exposure after the infection has occurred. Infection control measures, such as handwashing and sterilization using alcohol and other disinfectants, are the only option for CDI prevention, and strong evidence supports poor outcomes associated with CD. CD is an opportunistic bacterium capable of habituating within various environments and surviving acidic conditions within the human digestive system to produce virulence factors such as endospores, flagella, adhesins, toxins (TcdA, TcdB, and CDT or binary toxin), and proteinaceous surface-layer proteins (SLPs) like SlpA [2,3], when conditions support germination. Vaccination is one approach that could prevent CDIs in individuals with IBD. While many clinical trials are currently being conducted to produce a vaccine for CDI prevention, no vaccine has been approved for medical use. This paper will explore a theoretical design of a subunit vaccine that would target an immune response to the SlpA protein of the S-layer of CD.