Carbohydrates are regarded as promising targets for vaccine development against infectious disease because cell surface glycans on many infectious agents are attributed to playing an important role in pathogenesis. In addition, oncogenic transformation of normal cells, in many cases, is associated with aberrant glycosylation of the cell surface glycan generating tumor associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs). Technological advances in glycobiology have added a new dimension to immunotherapy when considering carbohydrates as key targets in developing safe and effective vaccines to combat cancer, bacterial infections, viral infections, etc. Many consider effective vaccines induce T-cell dependent immunity with satisfactory levels of immunological memory that preclude recurrence. Unfortunately, carbohydrates alone are poorly immunogenic as they do not bind strongly to the MHCII complex and thus fail to elicit T-cell immunity. To increase immunogenicity, carbohydrates have been conjugated to carrier proteins, which sometimes can impede carbohydrate specific immunity as peptide-based immune responses can negate antibodies directed at the targeted carbohydrate antigens. To overcome many challenges in using carbohydrate-based vaccine design and development approaches targeting cancer and other diseases, zwitterionic polysaccharides (ZPSs), isolated from the capsule of commensal anaerobic bacteria, will be discussed as promising carriers of carbohydrate antigens to achieve desired immunological responses.

A highly efficient and stereocontrolled synthesis of an aminooxy derivative of the tetrasaccharide repeating unit of a rhamnose-rich polysaccharide isolated from the cell envelop of bovine mastitis Streptococcus dysgalactiae 2023 is reported for the first time. The synthesis was accomplished utilizing a stereoselective and convergent [2 + 2] glycosylation strategy inclusive of a disaccharide Schmidt donor and an inclusive rhamnose disaccharide acceptor. The synthetic aminooxy tetrasaccharide was conjugated to T-cell stimulating immunogen PS A1 from Bacteroides fragilis ATCC 25285/NCTC 9343 via a physiologically stable oxime linkage to furnish the first semisynthetic bacterial-based immunogen construct targeting S. dysgalactiae 2023. The synthetic tetrasaccharide was assembled in 19 steps with a ∼5.0% overall yield.

is a major human pathogen that can cause mild to severe life threatening infections in many tissues and organs. Platelets are known to participate in protection against by directly killing and enhancing the activities of neutrophils and macrophages in clearing infection. Platelets have also been shown to induce monocyte differentiation into dendritic cells and to enhance activation of dendritic cells. Therefore, in the present study, we explored the role of platelets in enhancing bone marrow derived dendritic cell (BMDC) function against We observed a significant increase in dendritic cell phagocytosis and intracellular killing of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strain (USA300) by thrombin-activated platelets or their releasates. Enhancement of bacteria uptake and killing by DCs are mediated by platelet derived CD40L. Co-culture of USA300 and BMDCs in presence of thrombin-activated platelet releasates invokes upregulation of maturation marker CD80 on DCs and enhanced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNFα, IL-12, and IL-6. Overall, these observations support our hypothesis that platelets play a critical role in the host defense against infection. Platelets stimulate DCs leading to direct killing of and enhanced DC maturation, potentially leading to adaptive immune responses against .

An anticancer, entirely carbohydrate conjugate, Globo H-polysaccharide A1 (Globo H-PS A1), was chemically prepared and immunologically evaluated in C57BL/6 mice.