Meningococcal Vaccines: Current Status and Emerging Strategies.

Pumtiwitt C Mccarthy,Laleh Sheikhi Moghaddam,Abeer Sharyan

doi:10.3390/vaccines6010012

Pumtiwitt C Mccarthy, Laleh Sheikhi Moghaddam + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines6010012

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Journal: Vaccines	Publication Date: Feb 25, 2018
Citations: 55	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Morgan State University

Abstract

Neisseria meningitidis causes most cases of bacterial meningitis. Meningococcal meningitis is a public health burden to both developed and developing countries throughout the world. There are a number of vaccines (polysaccharide-based, glycoconjugate, protein-based and combined conjugate vaccines) that are approved to target five of the six disease-causing serogroups of the pathogen. Immunization strategies have been effective at helping to decrease the global incidence of meningococcal meningitis. Researchers continue to enhance these efforts through discovery of new antigen targets that may lead to a broadly protective vaccine and development of new methods of homogenous vaccine production. This review describes current meningococcal vaccines and discusses some recent research discoveries that may transform vaccine development against N. meningitidis in the future.

Highlights

Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis
Epidemics of disease caused by N. meningitidis serogroup A (MenA) occur in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan
Research efforts have evolved toward production of homogeneous glycoconjugate vaccines against N. meningitidis and other bacterial pathogens

Summary

Introduction

Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis. According to the World HealthOrganization, the disease has a high mortality rate (up to 50% if left untreated) and can leave 10% of those who do survive with devastating sequelae such as deafness and loss of limbs [1]. Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis. Most cases of the disease affect children under the age of 2 and between the ages of 16–21 [2]. It is estimated that one-third of disease cases affect those 65 or older. At least 12 different N. meningitidis serogroups have been identified, based on the chemical composition of their polysaccharides [3]. Six of these serogroups cause disease: serogroups A, B, C, W, X and Y. While most cases of meningococcal meningitis are sporadic, outbreaks still occur. Epidemics of disease caused by N. meningitidis serogroup A (MenA) occur in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan

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