Technologies for the prevention and/or treatment of pneumococcal infections.

This invention relates to the identification of peptide binding to ligands, and in particular to identification of epitopes expressed by microorganisms and by mammalian cells. The present invention provides polypeptides comprising the epitopes, and vaccines, antibodies and diagnostic products that utilize or are developed using the epitopes.

The present invention pertains to a vaccine comprising an IgM protease antigen of Streptococcus suis, for use in a method for protecting pigs against an infection with Streptococcus suis of serotype 2 and against an infection with Streptococcus suis of serotype 14.

The present invention refers to new conjugate antigens expressing built-in multiple epitopes and to polyvalent glycoconjugate vaccines and formulations containing the same. In addition, the present invention concerns the use of these vaccines in particular for the protection of the human population, and in particular for the protection of the paediatric population from pulmonary and systemic infections due to S. pneumoniae, N. meningitidis, H. influenzae, K. pneumoniae, M. tuberculosis, S. aereus, or from intestinal infections due to S. typhi, V. cholerae and E. coli. The present invention additionally refers to new polyvalent glycoconjugate vaccines for the protection from C. albicans and E. coli systemic and genitourinary infections or for the protection from M. bovis infections in veterinary medicine.

Methods of inducing an immunogenic response against a bacterial polysaccharide or oligosaccharide, and constructs and compositions for use in such methods.

The present disclosure relates to multivalent pneumococcal vaccine compositions comprising capsular pneumococcal polysaccharide serotypes each individually conjugated to carrier proteins. When conjugated, the combination of the capsular pneumococcal polysaccharide serotype and the carrier protein is referred to herein as a polysaccharide-protein conjugate. The pneumococcal vaccine compositions may further comprise one or more of the following; a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent, a buffer, a preservative, a stabilizer, an adjuvant, and/or a lyophilization excipient. Methods of making and administering the pneumococcal vaccine compositions described herein are also provided.

Methods of and compositions for breaking down a biofilm or inhibiting, preventing or treating a microbial infection that produces a biofilm are disclosed, which involves administration of an interfering agent capable of specifically competing, titrating, or inhibiting the binding of an HU protein to a microbial DNA. By competing with HU proteins that bind to DNA scaffold in the biofilm, these interfering agents destabilize the biofilm leading to destruction and removal of the biofilm by the immune system. Further method and composition aspects are contemplated in relation to infections caused by bacteria that export an HU protein.

Provided are vaccine compositions and methods against Streptococcus pneumoniae. The composition comprises liposomes which have polysaccharides from one or more serotypes and have proteins non-covalently attached to the surface and exposed to the exterior.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a live attenuated vaccine by irradiation and a live attenuated vaccine composition prepared by the same, and more particularly, a method of preparing a live attenuated vaccine by irradiation including irradiating a pathogenic microorganism with a dose of 0.5 to 2 kGy of radiation per single radiation six to fifteen times; and a live attenuated vaccine composition including a pathogenic microorganism attenuated to not be revertant to a wild type by generation of at least one mutation of nucleotide insertion and nucleotide deletion by irradiation.

The present disclosure provides a method of purifying polysaccharides from a cell lysate, comprising partially purifying the cell lysate comprising an impurity and a polysaccharide to obtain a clarified cmde lysate; mixing the clarified crude lysate with a neutralization solution comprising a salt to form a neutralized lysate; mixing the neutralized lysate with a precipitation solution comprising cetyltrimethylammonium bromide to form a first supernatant and a first precipitate; and separating the first precipitate from the first supernatant, wherein the polysaccharide is located in the first supernatant. The present disclosure further provides a method of making a polysaccharide vaccine. Also provided are vaccines, delivery systems, compositions and polysaccharides made by the methods described herein.