Antigenicity and immunogenicity of a synthetic oligosaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type b.
Polysaccharide-protein conjugates as vaccines have proven to be very effective in preventing Haemophilus influenzae type b infections in industrialized countries. However, cost-effective technologies need to be developed for increasing the availability of anti-H. influenzae type b vaccines in countries from the developing world. Consequently, vaccine production with partially synthetic antigens is a desirable goal for many reasons. They may be rigidly controlled for purity and effectiveness while at the same time being cheap enough that they may be made universally available. We describe here the antigenicity and immunogenicity of several H. influenzae type b synthetic oligosaccharide-protein conjugates in laboratory animals. The serum of H. influenzae type b-immunized animals recognized our synthetic H. influenzae type b antigens to the same extent as the native bacterial capsular polysaccharide. Compared to the anti-H. influenzae type b vaccine employed, these synthetic versions induced similar antibody response patterns in terms of titer, specificity, and functional capacity. The further development of synthetic vaccines will meet urgent needs in the less prosperous parts of the world and remains our major goal.
Fernández-Santana
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Center for the Study of Synthetic Antigens, Facultad de Química, Universidad de La Habana, Havana, Cuba 10400. violeta@fq.uh.cu.
Cardoso
Félix
F
Rodriguez
Arlene
A
Carmenate
Tania
T
Peña
Luis
L
Valdés
Yuri
Y
Hardy
Eugenio
E
Mawas
Fatme
F
Heynngnezz
Lazaro
L
Rodríguez
Maria C
MC
Figueroa
Ignacio
I
Chang
Janoi
J
Toledo
Maria E
ME
Musacchio
Alexis
A
Hernández
Ibis
I
Izquierdo
Mabel
M
Cosme
Karelia
K
Roy
Rene
R
Verez-Bencomo
V
V
D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D018073:Haemophilus Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D019741:Haemophilus influenzae type b / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D010428:Pentosephosphates / Q000276:immunology*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000276:immunology; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology*
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D018073:Haemophilus Vaccines; D009844:Oligosaccharides; D010428:Pentosephosphates; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; C003191:polyribose phosphate