The vaccine ingredients self-assemble into a liposome
A Streptococcus pneumonia vaccine with fewer sugar units and no antigenic protein is not only easier to produce but could also induce a superior immune response to the vaccine currently in clinical use.
Cells are sugar coated; bacteria, parasite and tumour cells often have different carbohydrates to host cells on their surface. Since the immune system recognises these, vaccines can be made of carbohydrates. However, to gain long-term immunity, a protein that provokes an immune response by activating T cells is usually included too. The protein is covalently attached to the carbohydrate, but synthesis of such vaccines can be tricky.
Shenglou Deng, of Brigham Young University in Utah, US, and co-workers, made two main changes with their new vaccine: instead of using the whole sugar on the pathogen’s coat they took a small section of it – an oligosaccharide – and instead of joining this to a protein, they combined it with a lipid that targets only one type of T cell – natural killer T (NKT) cells. Two long chain lipids, to give the vaccine structure, were also added to the vaccine’s ingredients.
Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s free to access until 19th March:
A peptide-free, liposome-based oligosaccharide vaccine, adjuvanted with a natural killer T cell antigen, generates robust antibody responses in vivo
S. Deng, L. Bai, R. Reboulet, R. Matthew, D. A. Engler, L. Teyton, A. Bendelac and P. B. Savage
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C3SC53471E
