title: Recent developments in vaccines to prevent meningococcal serogroup B infections.
abstract: Meningococcal disease in most western countries is mainly caused by serogroup B. Despite the availability of successful meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccines, there is no effective vaccine against serogroup B. Efficacy trials with outer membrane vesicle (OMV) vaccines were ineffective and are complicated by the high variability of its main component, porin A. Several new approaches to either optimizing these OMV vaccines or searching for new, highly conserved antigens are therefore being investigated. The completion of the meningococcal genome sequence has provided new challenges. This review summarizes recent developments in the search for a broadly protective meningococcal serogroup B vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Erasmus MC/Sophia Children's Hospital, PO Box 2060, 3000 CB Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Clementien L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Vermont
authors.forename: Germie P J M
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: van den Dobbelsteen
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Groot
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D038541:Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup B / Q000276:immunology*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial