title: A possible oligosaccharide-conjugate vaccine candidate for Clostridium difficile is antigenic and immunogenic.
abstract: Nosocomial infections with the Gram-positive pathogen Clostridium difficile pose a major risk for hospitalized patients and result in significant costs to health care systems. Here, we present the chemical synthesis of a PS-II hapten of a cell wall polysaccharide of hypervirulent ribotype 027 of C. difficile. Mice were immunized with a conjugate consisting of the synthetic hexasaccharide and the diphtheria toxoid variant CRM(197). The immunogenicity of the glycan repeating unit was demonstrated by the presence of specific IgG antibodies in the serum of immunized mice. Murine monoclonal antibodies interact with the synthetic hexasaccharide, as determined by microarray analysis. Finally, we found that specific IgA antibodies in the stool of hospital patients infected with C. difficile recognize the synthetic PS-II hexasaccharide hapten.
authors: Department of Biomolecular Systems, Max-Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany.
authors: Matthias A
authors: MA
authors: Oberli
authors: Marie-Lyn
authors: ML
authors: Hecht
authors: Pascal
authors: P
authors: Bindschädler
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Adibekian
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Adam
authors: Peter H
authors: PH
authors: Seeberger