Carbohydrate based meningococcal vaccines: past and present overview

Abstract

Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of bacterial meningitidis worldwide. Children less than five years and adolescents are particularly affected. Nearly all invasive strains are surrounded by a polysaccharide capsule, based on which, 12 N. meningitidis serogroups are differentiated. Six of them, A, B, C, W, X, and Y, cause the vast majority of infections in humans. Mono- and multi-valent carbohydrate-based vaccines against meningococcal infections have been licensed or are currently in clinical development. In this mini-review, an overview of the past and present approaches for producing meningococcal glycoconjugate vaccines is provided.

Fig. 1

Chemical structure of meningococcal capsular polysaccharide repeating units from serogroups relevant for the disease. Some structures are partially O-acetylated (R = Ac)

Fig. 2

Different modes for the preparation of conjugates from polysaccharides: (a) direct conjugation of naturally extracted carbohydrates and (b) sizing of the polysaccharide prior to conjugation

Fig. 3

Most common conjugation strategies exploited for meningococcal glycoconjugates

Fig. 4

Novel meningococcal synthetic conjugates