Relevance of O-acetyl and phosphoglycerol groups for the antigenicity of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 18C capsular polysaccharide.

Capsular polysaccharides are important virulence factors of Streptococcus pneumoniae. The polysaccharide has been used as a component of vaccines against pneumococcal diseases either as plain polysaccharide or better conjugated to a protein. The last one is the vaccine of choice to target child protection.

Quantitative proton magnetic resonance determination of N,N-dimethylformamide in one intermediate of the Quimi-Hib vaccine.

Quimi-Hib is a conjugate vaccine against Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) where the Hib antigen is the only one produced by chemical synthesis. NMR has become the alternative of choice for the identity of intermediates during the chemical synthesis of Hib antigen. We explore a rapid quantitative proton magnetic resonance (qHNMR) assay for the determination of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as a residual in one of the critical intermediates.

Phase I clinical evaluation of a synthetic oligosaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type b in human adult volunteers.

Since 1989, we have been involved in the development of a vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type b. The new vaccine is based on the conjugation of synthetic oligosaccharides to tetanus toxoid. Our main goals have been (i) to verify the feasibility of using the synthetic antigen and (ii) to search for new production alternatives for this important infant vaccine.