Impact and Control of Sugar Size in Glycoconjugate Vaccines

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 27; no. 19; p. 6432
• Main Authors: Stefanetti, Giuseppe, MacLennan, Calman Alexander, Micoli, Francesca
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antigen-antibody reactions; Antigens; B cells; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial infections; Carbohydrates; Carrier Proteins; Child; Child, Preschool; DPT vaccine; fragmentation of polysaccharides; Glycan; Glycoconjugates; Health aspects; Humans; Immunogenicity; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Parameters; Polysaccharides; Proteins; Reaction mechanisms; Review; Streptococcus infections; Sugar; sugar length; Sugars; T cells; Tetanus antitoxin; vaccine; Vaccines; Vaccines, Conjugate; fragmentation of polysaccharides; sugar length; vaccine; immunogenicity; glycoconjugates
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules27196432

Glycoconjugate vaccines have contributed enormously to reducing and controlling encapsulated bacterial infections for over thirty years. Glycoconjugate vaccines are based on a carbohydrate antigen that is covalently linked to a carrier protein; this is necessary to cause T cell responses for optimal immunogenicity, and to protect young children. Many interdependent parameters affect the immunogenicity of glycoconjugate vaccines, including the size of the saccharide antigen. Here, we examine and discuss the impact of glycan chain length on the efficacy of glycoconjugate vaccines and report the methods employed to size polysaccharide antigens, while highlighting the underlying reaction mechanisms. A better understanding of the impact of key parameters on the immunogenicity of glycoconjugates is critical to developing a new generation of highly effective vaccines.