The present invention generally refers to novel intermediate polysaccharide units, useful for the preparation of polysaccharide antigen of GBS Ia, Ib and III; the invention also refers to a process for their preparation and their use as intermediate for the preparation of conjugated derivatives useful in vaccines.

The present invention describes a combined vaccine that offers broad protection against meningococcal disease caused by the pathogenic bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. The vaccine is comprised of four distinct polysaccharide-protein conjugates that are formulated as a single dose of vaccine. Purified capsular polysaccharides from Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, C, W-135, and Y are chemically activated and selectively attached to a carrier protein by means of a covalent chemical bond, forming polysaccharide-protein conjugates capable of eliciting long-lasting immunity to a variety of N. meningitidis strains in children as well as adults.

The invention provides a process for preparing a conjugate of a S. aureus type 8 capsular polysaccharide and a carrier molecule, comprising the steps of: (a) depolymerising the capsular polysaccharide, to give a polysaccharide fragment; (b) oxidising the fragment in order to introduce an aldehyde group into at least one saccharide residue in the fragment, to give an oxidised saccharide residue; and (c) coupling the oxidised saccharide residue to a carrier molecule via the aldehyde group, thereby giving the conjugate. The coupling in step (c) may be direct, or may be via a linker molecule. The invention also provides a conjugate obtained or obtainable by this process.

Described herein are compounds for use in vaccine compositions which contain natural or synthetic carbohydrate antigens. Such vaccines may be highly immunologically active due to the conjugation with an immune-stimulating protein or with a monophosphorylated lipid A derivative, and may be self-adjuvanting due to the presence of a monophosphorylated lipid A derivative. Treatments for cancer and fungal and bacterial infections are described herein.

The adjuvanted conjugate opioid vaccine described herein is a conjugate of a protein carrier and at least one opioid backbone component or hapten conjugated thereto, admixed with at least one adjuvant. Anti-opioid effects are demonstrated after administration of a vaccine made up of the CRM197 protein carrier linked to a FEN backbone, combined with adjuvants such as dmLT or LTA1.

The present disclosure provides methods of preparing heteroaryl-containing compounds, wherein an azide-alkyne cycloaddition is accelerated in the presence of lauryldimethylamine oxide (LDAO). The present disclosure further provides conjugates of polypeptides and antigens prepared using such methods.

The present invention relates to compositions and methods associated with antibody-bacterial effector translocase protein conjugates. Some aspects of the present invention relate to preventing or treating diseases using the antibody-protective antigen conjugates. Further aspects of the present invention relate to methods of chemically conjugating and synthesizing the antibody-bacterial effector translocase protein conjugates.

The present disclosure provides delivery constructs comprising a carrier coupled to a heterologous payload, wherein coupling of the carrier to the payload can result in transportation of the payload (e.g., a therapeutic payload) into and/or across intact polarized epithelial cells (e.g., epithelial cells of the gut of a mammal). The delivery construct can be part of a pharmaceutical composition that can be orally administered to a subject to provide for improved, effective therapies for treatment of, e.g., inflammatory diseases or autoimmune diseases.

The invention relates to a therapeutic combination for use as a medicament, wherein the therapeutic combination comprises: (a) a first pharmaceutical composition comprising a first proteinaceous molecule and at least one saponin covalently bound to said first proteinaceous molecule; and (b) a second pharmaceutical composition comprising a second proteinaceous molecule, comprising an effector moiety, wherein the binding site of the first proteinaceous molecule and the binding site of the second proteinaceous molecule are the same. The invention also relates to the first pharmaceutical composition for use as a medicament. The invention also relates to the first pharmaceutical composition, further comprising the second proteinaceous molecule. The invention also relates to the first pharmaceutical composition, further comprising the second proteinaceous molecule, for use as a medicament. Furthermore, the invention relates to the first pharmaceutical composition, further comprising the second proteinaceous molecule, for use in the treatment or prophylaxis of cancer in a patient in need thereof.

The present invention provides a method of determining the identity and/or amount of an anti-IL-31 antibody in a sample. Such a method includes incubating a sample comprising an anti-IL-31 antibody with at least one mimotope selected from a feline IL-31 mimotope, a canine IL-31 mimotope, a horse IL-31 mimotope, and a human IL-31 mimotope; and determining the identity and/or quantity of the anti-IL-31 in the sample.