Burkholderia cepacia complex vaccines: Where do we go from here?

Burkholderia comprises a wide variety of environmental Gram-negative bacteria. Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) includes several Burkholderia species that pose a health hazard as they are able to cause respiratory infections in patients with chronic granulomatous disease and cystic fibrosis. Due to the intrinsic resistance to a wide array of antibiotics and naturally occurring immune evasion strategies, treatment of Bcc infections often proves to be unsuccessful. To date, limited work related to vaccine development has been performed for Bcc pathogens. In this review, we have gathered key aspects of Bcc research that have been reported in recent years related to vaccine efforts, virulence, immune responses, and animal models, and use this information to inform the research community of areas of opportunity toward development of a viable Bcc vaccine.