Haemophilus influenzae: capsule vaccine and capsulation genetics |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Idenix Pharmaceuticals, 320 Bent Street, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA;2. Dextra, Science and Technology Centre, Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, Reading RG6 6BZ, UK;1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, 03756 USA;2. Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT, 05405 USA;3. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada;1. Medical & Biological Computing Laboratory, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore 632 014, India;2. Laboratory for Structural Biology and Bio-computing, Supercomputer Education and Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India |
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| Abstract: | In 1931, Dr Margaret Pittman reported her discovery that Haemophilus influenzae strains responsible for meningitis had a polysaccharide capsule, and that one capsular type, serotype b, was responsible for nearly all cases. Diverse programmes of research aimed at understanding and exploiting this seminal observation culminated, in the 1980s, in the introduction of a purified type b polysaccharide vaccine to protect children against this terrible disease. Subsequent improvements in vaccine immunogenicity have translated into impressive efficacy and the suggestion that, were all children to be immunized, a major cause of life-threatening childhood infection might be vanquished. |
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