How the Knowledge of Interactions between Meningococcus and the Human Immune System Has Been Used to Prepare Effective Neisseria meningitidis Vaccines

Journal of Immunology Research
R GaspariniD Amicizia

Abstract

In the last decades, tremendous advancement in dissecting the mechanisms of pathogenicity of Neisseria meningitidis at a molecular level has been achieved, exploiting converging approaches of different disciplines, ranging from pathology to microbiology, immunology, and omics sciences (such as genomics and proteomics). Here, we review the molecular biology of the infectious agent and, in particular, its interactions with the immune system, focusing on both the innate and the adaptive responses. Meningococci exploit different mechanisms and complex machineries in order to subvert the immune system and to avoid being killed. Capsular polysaccharide and lipooligosaccharide glycan composition, in particular, play a major role in circumventing immune response. The understanding of these mechanisms has opened new horizons in the field of vaccinology. Nowadays different licensed meningococcal vaccines are available and used: conjugate meningococcal C vaccines, tetravalent conjugate vaccines, an affordable conjugate vaccine against the N. menigitidis serogroup A, and universal vaccines based on multiple antigens each one with a different and peculiar function against meningococcal group B strains.

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Citations

Jan 24, 2017·Scientific Reports·Eleanor R Watkins, Martin C J Maiden
Dec 4, 2019·Medical Microbiology and Immunology·Arno ThibauVolkhard A J Kempf
Jul 17, 2020·Frontiers in Immunology·Richard B KennedyGregory A Poland
Jul 28, 2017·Expert Review of Clinical Immunology·Nicola Luigi BragazziYehuda Shoenfeld
Sep 16, 2021·Expert Review of Vaccines·Myron ChristodoulidesJohn E Heckels

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
immunoprecipitation

Software Mentioned

Bexsero

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