Campylobacter jejuni Serotype HS:10 Capsular Polysaccharide and the Conjugate Vaccine thereof

• Main Author: DePass, Christina Marie
• Other Authors: Monteiro, Mario A
• Language: en
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Campylobacter; capsular polysaccharide; vaccine; pathogen
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10214/3192

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a food-borne bacterial pathogen that is the leading cause of Traveller’s Diaharea and Guillian-Barré Syndrome. Previous research determined that bacterial surface carbohydrates are virulence factors. Specifically, the study of the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) structures has widespread applications to understanding serotype cross-reactivity and biosynthetic pathways, the function of bacterial surface carbohydrates, and glycoconjugate vaccine development. This thesis characterized the CPS of C. jejuni HS:10 and subsequently used the CPS for developing a glycoconjugate vaccine. This was accomplished through extraction and purification of sugar from the bacteria, followed by characterization using chemical degradation, GC-MS, NMR and conjugation techniques. These analyses determined that the CPS was composed of a 3-linked GalNAc backbone and 6d-Galhepf attached at the 4th position with non-stoichiometrically attached O-methyl phosphoramidate attached to the 3 position of the heptose. Using this structure, a successful glycoconjugate vaccine was prepared using periodate oxidation and reductive amination.