Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Aug;38(4):401-409.
doi: 10.1007/s10719-021-09990-y. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Carbohydrate based meningococcal vaccines: past and present overview

Francesco Berti  1 , Maria Rosaria Romano  1 , Francesca Micoli  2 , Roberto Adamo  3
Affiliations
Review

Carbohydrate based meningococcal vaccines: past and present overview

Francesco Berti et al. Glycoconj J. 2021 Aug.

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

FB, MRR, FM and RA are employees of GSK group of companies and inventors in patent related to this topic. This work was undertaken at the request of and sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA.

Menomune, Menactra and MenQuadfi are trademarks of Sanofi Pasteur; Mencevax, Menitorix, Menveo and Bexsero are trademarks of GSK; Meningtec is a trademark of Nuron Biotech; NeisVac-C, Nimenrix and Trumemba are trademarks of Pfizer; MenAfrivac is a trademark of the Serum Institute of India. VA-Mengoc-BC is a trademark of Finley Institute.

Figures

Fig. 1
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
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
Fig. 3
Most common conjugation strategies exploited for meningococcal glycoconjugates
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Novel meningococcal synthetic conjugates
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pizza M, Rappuoli R. Neisseria meningitidis: pathogenesis and immunity. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 2015;23:68–72. - PubMed
    1. Organization, W.H.: Control of epidemic meningococcal disease, p. Practical Guidelines. 2nd edn. Geneva (1988)
    1. Rosenstein NE, et al. Meningococcal disease. N. Engl. J. Med. 2001;344(18):1378–1388. - PubMed
    1. Shah S, Gross JR, Stewart CT. A case report of meningococcal disease in a neonate. Wmj. 2013;112(1):28–30. - PubMed
    1. Harrison LH, Trotter CL, Ramsay ME. Global epidemiology of meningococcal disease. Vaccine. 2009;27:B51–B63. - PubMed

MeSH terms