Title:Carbohydrates in Vaccine Development
Volume: 16
Issue: 7
Author(s): Salwa Aljohani, Waleed M. Hussein, Istvan Toth and Pavla Simerska*
Affiliation:
- The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Cooper Road, St. Lucia QLD 4072,Australia
Keywords:
Carbohydrates, vaccines, glycans, polysaccharides, glycoconjugates, immunity.
Abstract: Despite advances in the development of new vaccines, there are still some diseases with no
vaccine solutions. Therefore, further efforts are required to more comprehensively discern the different
antigenic components of these microorganisms on a molecular level. This review summarizes advancement
in the development of new carbohydrate-based vaccines. Following traditional vaccine
counterparts, the carbohydrate-based vaccines introduced a new approach in fighting infectious diseases.
Carbohydrates have played various roles in the development of carbohydrate-based vaccines,
which are described in this review, including carbohydrates acting as antigens, carriers or targeting
moieties. Carbohydrate-based vaccines against infectious diseases, such as group A streptococcus, meningococcal
meningitis and human immunodeficiency virus, are also discussed. A number of carbohydrate-
based vaccines, such as Pneumovax 23, Menveo and Pentacel, have been successfully marketed in
the past few years and there is a promising standpoint for many more to come in the near future.