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Review
. 2018 Jun 2;23(6):1340.
doi: 10.3390/molecules23061340.

Role of O-Acetylation in the Immunogenicity of Bacterial Polysaccharide Vaccines

Francesco Berti  1 , Riccardo De Ricco  2 , Rino Rappuoli  3
Affiliations
Review

Role of O-Acetylation in the Immunogenicity of Bacterial Polysaccharide Vaccines

Francesco Berti et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

The incidence of infectious diseases caused by several bacterial pathogens such as Haemophilus influenzae type b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Neisseria meningitidis, has been dramatically reduced over the last 25 years through the use of glycoconjugate vaccines. The structures of the bacterial capsular polysaccharide (CPS) antigens, extracted and purified from microbial cultures and obtained with very high purity, show that many of them are decorated by O-acetyl groups. While these groups are often considered important for the structural identity of the polysaccharides, they play a major role in the functional immune response to some vaccines such as meningococcal serogroup A and Salmonella typhi Vi, but do not seem to be important for many others, such as meningococcal serogroups C, W, Y, and type III Group B Streptococcus. This review discusses the O-acetylation status of CPSs and its role in the immunological responses of these antigens.

Keywords: O-acetylation; bacterial vaccines; carbohydrate antigens; conjugate vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

F.B, R.D.R. and R.R. are employees of the GSK companies. F.B. and R.R. are owners of patents on related topics.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Repeating unit structures of meningococcal serogroup (a) A and (b) C, with O-acetyl groups inside or outside the saccharide ring, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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