Immunogenicity of intranasally administered class 5C protein of Neisseria meningitidis in mice

M. dos S. Carmo, A.

Neisseria meningitidis is a human pathogen for which no fully effective vaccine is avaliable. Meningococcal vaccines currently approved for use in humans are made from purified capsular polysaccharides. Such vaccines are effective against serogroups A and C, although in the United States, a quadrivalent vaccine containing four types of meningococcal serogroups A, C, Y, and W-135) is effective among people over two years of age. Unfortunately, such capsular polysaccharide vaccines present limitations as they have no effect on children younger than two years and the immune response is short-lived in older children and in adolescents. Development of a vaccine against serogroup B poses an enormous problem due to the similarity between the B capsular polysaccharide structure and a polysialic acid containing glycopeptides that are part of the human brain tissue, raising the possibility of occurrence of autoimmunity. Promising studies have been conducted on the development of a vaccine based on N. meningitidis outer membrane proteins (OMPs). The major OMPs N. meningitidis are designated from class 1 through class 5. However, OMP vaccines are weak antigens in infants. In an effort to establish efficient immunization in infants, we here tested a vaccine consisting of purified class 5C protein from one reference Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B and different adjuvants. This study aimed