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Review
. 2011 Jan;4(1):20-31.
doi: 10.1111/j.1751-7915.2010.00178.x.

Vaccine development against Neisseria meningitidis

Ulrich Vogel  1 , Heike Claus
Affiliations
Review

Vaccine development against Neisseria meningitidis

Ulrich Vogel et al. Microb Biotechnol. 2011 Jan.

Abstract

Meningococcal disease is communicable by close contact or droplet aerosols. Striking features are high case fatality rates and peak incidences of invasive disease in infants, toddlers and adolescents. Vaccine development is hampered by bacterial immune evasion strategies including molecular mimicry.As for Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, no vaccine has therefore been developed that targets all serogroups of Neisseria meningitidis. Polysaccharide vaccines available both in protein conjugated and non-conjugated form, have been introduced against capsular serogroups A, C,W-135 and Y, but are ineffective against serogroup B meningococci, which cause a significant burden of disease in many parts of the world. Detoxified outer membrane vesicles are used since decades to elicit protection against epidemic serogroup B disease. Genome mining and biochemical approaches have provided astounding progress recently in the identification of immunogenic, yet reasonably conserved outer membrane proteins. As subcapsular proteins nevertheless are unlikely to immunize against all serogroup B variants, thorough investigation by surrogate assays and molecular epidemiology approaches are needed prior to introduction and post-licensure of protein vaccines. Research currently addresses the analysis of life vaccines, meningococcus B polysaccharide modifications and mimotopes, as well as the use of N. lactamica outer membrane vesicles.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency of serogroups in invasive meningococcal disease in Germany (2002–09). Data were obtained from the database of the German Reference Laboratory for Meningococci at the University of Würzburg.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age‐specific incidence of IMD in Germany (2001–09). Data were obtained from the Robert Koch‐Institute, Berlin: SurvStat@RKI, http://www3.rki.de/survstat, data status as of 13 January 2010.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Development of meningococcal vaccines and depiction of the interaction between research institutions, industry and the public health sector.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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