Unique polysaccharides decorating the surface of microbial pathogens are an attractive target for vaccine design. The development of polysaccharide vaccines is hindered by low immunogenicity of carbohydrates. Conjugate vaccines, where glycans are covalently attached to a carrier protein, fully engage the immune system and can generate potent and long-lasting antibody responses. Choice of both protein carrier and adjuvant determines the effectiveness of the carbohydrate vaccine.We explored the potential of virus-like particles (VLPs) derived from bacteriophage Q? as carbohydrate vaccine carriers. VLPs are inherently immunogenic and possess the kind of repetitive structure that is optimal for polyvalent display of glycan antigens. We used the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction to load Qb VLPs with multiple copies of synthetic oligosaccharides specific for Streptococcus pneumoniae, and immunized mice with the resulting conjugates. The role of formulation components and parameters such as glycan loading in the generation of strong and specific anti-carbohydrate immune responses will be discussed.

Qβ virus-like particle carriers for carbohydrate conjugate vaccines

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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