title: Bioanalysis of meningococcal vaccines.
abstract: Meningococcal meningitis is feared because of the rapid onset of severe disease from mild symptoms and, therefore, is an important target for vaccine research. Five serogroups, defined by the structures of their capsular polysaccharides, are responsible for the vast majority of disease. Protection against four of these five serogroups can be obtained with polysaccharide or glycoconjugate vaccines, in which fragments of the capsular polysaccharides attached to a carrier protein generate anticarbohydrate immune responses, whilst protection against group B disease requires protein immunogens, often presented in vesicles containing outer membrane proteins. Glycoconjugate vaccines are now an established technology, but outer-membrane protein vaccines are still under development and present significant challenges. This review discusses physicochemical approaches to the characterization and quality control of these vaccines, as well as highlighting the problems and differences in vaccine design required for protection against different serogroups of the same species of pathogen.
authors.affiliation: Bioanalytical and Vaccine Research, Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. Neil.Ravenscroft@uct.ac.za
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ravenscroft
authors.forename: Jun X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D006801:Humans; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D011134:Polysaccharides; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate