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Scientists have developed a prototype of a super-powered vaccine
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Brigham and Women's Health (BWH) scientists have created a prototype glycoconjugate vaccine that is 100 times more effective than any vaccine available today.
A glycoconjugate vaccine consists of covalently linked carbohydrate and protein molecules, like many standard vaccines used to protect against common diseases such as pneumonia or meningitis.
The researchers developed the vaccine prototype after discovering that immune cells, particularly T cells, could recognize the vaccine's carbohydrates and trigger an immune response. This discovery challenges long-held assumptions that immune cells only recognize disease-causing proteins, which is the basis of all current vaccines.
Proof that T cells recognize carbohydrates came from a study in which scientists immunized mice with different types of glycoconjugate vaccines against group B Streptococcus bacteria. The researchers vaccinated one group of mice with a vaccine containing proteins from a different pathogen, and vaccinated a control group with a vaccine containing streptococcal proteins. For both groups, the carbohydrate chain in the vaccines was the same and matched the strain of the pathogen.
The researchers found that the immune response in both groups was similar. These results indicated that T cells recognized the carbohydrates of the streptococcal pathogen. In addition, the scientists investigated the mechanisms by which the glycoconjugate of carbohydrate-containing vaccines activates protective immunity to bacterial infections.
"We were able to detect T cells after glycoconjugate immunization with carbohydrate-containing vaccines, making these T cells the first cells identified in the laboratory that recognize carbohydrates," said Dennis L. Kasper, director of the BWH Channing Laboratory.
This discovery prompted the scientists to design a vaccine that contains multiple carbohydrate particles. This vaccine has shown a stronger immune response. The researchers believe the vaccine will be effective in all high-risk populations. "For example, the pneumococcal vaccine is effective in children, but not in older people," Kasper explained.
"Carbohydrates are among the most abundant and structurally diverse molecules in nature. They play an important role in many biological functions. We hope that our research will serve as a basis for the production of a new generation of therapeutic and preventive agents not only against bacterial infections, but also for the treatment of cancer and viral diseases," said Kasper.
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