Recent structural studies demonstrated that the epitope recognized by a monoclonal antibody representative of the protective response against the type III group B Streptococcus polysaccharide was comprised within 2 of the repeating units that constitute the full-length native structure. In the current study, we took advantage of this discovery to design a novel vaccine based on multivalent presentation of the identified minimal epitope on a carrier protein. We show that highly glycosylated short oligosaccharide conjugates elicit functional immune responses comparable to those of the full-length native polysaccharide. The obtained results pave the way to the design of well-defined glycoconjugate vaccines based on short synthetic oligosaccharides.
Keywords: Streptococcus agalactiae; Antigen; Capsular Polysaccharide; Glycoconjugate; Group B Streptococcus.
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.