Improving modern vaccines — sugar polymer tails wag the protein dog

Millions of people – particularly infants in underdeveloped countries — suffer from the serious life threatening illnesses of meningitis, pneumonia and influenza. These are due to infection by microbes such as N. meninigitidis, S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae b. Early vaccines were based on the large and complex carbohydrate (sugar) based polymers produced by the bacteria. More recently new glycoconjugate vaccines have been developed which involves ‘fusing’ the complex carbohydrates — the sugar polymer tails — onto carrier proteins. These sugar-protein complexes improve the effectiveness and longevity of the vaccine. However, there are still problems concerning the stability of formulations they are prepared in. Scientists at The University of Nottingham’s National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics have just published the third in a series of papers showing that the sugar chains control the physical behaviour of these vaccines in the aqueous preparations used in their delivery. It is hoped this research into the...