Grant: Op. Grant: STBBI Research in Canada: Beyond HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C-Syphilis

Infectious and congenital syphilis continue to be public health concerns in low- and middle-income countries and have shown alarming increases in the number of cases in high-income countries, including Canada, particularly amongst First Nations and other vulnerable communities. Syphilis also increases the risk of acquisition and transmission of HIV, and thus constitutes a double public health threat. Public health strategies to control syphilis, which include increasing disease awareness, screening, and treatment, have thus far been ineffective in achieving disease reduction. Recent control strategies have shifted prioritization to investment in syphilis vaccine development to achieve the goal of syphilis elimination. Despite the identification of T. pallidum as the causative agent of syphilis 117 years ago, the syphilis research field is in its infancy. The historically low level of prioritized funding for basic T. pallidum research, the experimental difficulties of T. pallidum research, and the dearth of basic science researchers in the field have significantly hindered progress resulting in minimal understanding of T. pallidum pathogenesis and the corresponding host responses induced during infection. Indeed, the Cameron lab is the only one in Canada studying the bacterium and investigating bacterial-host interactions. Since rational vaccine design depends on foundational knowledge of how a pathogen causes infection within a host, critical knowledge gaps impeding progress in the syphilis field include understanding the clinical response to T. pallidum infection and the correlates of protection to infection. The current proposal addresses these significant knowledge gaps by providing a molecular assessment of how T. pallidum modulates the host response during the course of clinical infection.