Table 4.
Current issues hampering S. aureus vaccine research and alternative therapeutic strategies.
| ( A) Issues Hampering S. aureus Vaccine Research | Potential Solution | References |
| Redundancy of S. aureus virulence factors | Target regulatory factors | [83,201,208] |
| Genetic variations among S. aureus isolates/lineages | ||
| Complex regulatory mechanisms | ||
| Lower presence and expression of virulence factors in HA-MRSA | [34,35] | |
| Antibody-based therapy less effective in highly colonized SAP patients | Prophylactic antibody use to be explored | [209] |
| High tropism of S. aureus virulence factors Inferior transferability of conventional mouse models into clinical research |
Humanized mice | [194,210,211,212,213,214,215] 10.3390/ijms21197061 |
| Mouse-adapted S. aureus strains | ||
| Recombinant toxins | ||
| (B) Alternative Therapeutic Strategies | Explored in SAP | References |
| Bacteriophages | Yes | [216,217,218,219,220,221,222,223,224] |
| Outer membrane vesicles | No | [225] |
| Nanoparticles (nasal vaccination) | No | 10.1016/j.addr.2008.09.005 |
| Nanoparticles (treatment of pulmonary diseases) | Yes | 10.1002/wnan.1401 |
| 10.1038/s41551-017-0187-5 | ||
| Antimicrobial peptides (antibiotic alternative) | No | 10.1093/jac/dkw381 |
HA-MRSA: Hospital-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus; SAP: S. aureus pneumonia.