Broad vaccine coverage predicted for a bivalent recombinant factor H binding protein based vaccine to prevent serogroup B meningococcal disease.

Factor H binding proteins (fHBP), are bacterial surface proteins currently undergoing human clinical trials as candidate serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis (MnB) vaccines. fHBP protein sequences segregate into two distinct subfamilies, designated A and B. Here, we report the specificity and vaccine potential of mono- or bivalent fHBP-containing vaccines.

Detection of LP2086 on the cell surface of Neisseria meningitidis and its accessibility in the presence of serogroup B capsular polysaccharide.

The outer membrane protein LP2086, a human factor H binding protein, is undergoing clinical trials as a vaccine against invasive serogroup B meningococcal (MnB) disease. As LP2086 is a surface protein, expression of capsular polysaccharide could potentially limit accessibility of anti-LP2086 antibodies to LP2086 expressed on the surface of bacteria. To determine whether variability in expression levels of the serogroup B capsule (Cap B) might interfere with accessibility of anti-LP2086 antibody binding to LP2086, we evaluated the ability of anti-Cap B and anti-LP2086 antibodies to bind to the surface of 1263 invasive clinical MnB strains by flow cytometry.