Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein
Group B Streptococcus is a pathogen that chiefly infects immunocompromised individuals and neonates. To combat this infection, at-risk mothers are currently given antibiotics before birth to prevent exposure of neonates to the bacteria. A vaccine would be beneficial, as it would allow mothers to com...
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73790/ |
| _version_ | 1848800813826179072 |
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| author | MacCalman, Thomas |
| author_facet | MacCalman, Thomas |
| author_sort | MacCalman, Thomas |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Group B Streptococcus is a pathogen that chiefly infects immunocompromised individuals and neonates. To combat this infection, at-risk mothers are currently given antibiotics before birth to prevent exposure of neonates to the bacteria. A vaccine would be beneficial, as it would allow mothers to combat this infection without excessive use of antibiotics. As encapsulated bacteria, the main structure available as a target antigen is the polysaccharide capsule itself, rather than any underlying structures. For this reason, glycoconjugate vaccines are being synthesised which use surface polysaccharides conjugated to carrier proteins to improve their immunogenicity. This project studies the stability of candidate polysaccharides for use in a glycoconjugate vaccine. The polysaccharides were provided by GSK vaccines, who requested the use of specific hydrodynamic methodology. The polysaccharides were found to be generally stable, only seeing small changes in hydrodynamic properties after exposure to stress, but in many cases it is likely that the differences seen are due to minor experimental variation rather than genuine structural differences. The polysaccharides were also tested for possible association effects with blood plasma proteins: serum albumin, fibrinogen and immunoglobulin. The polysaccharides were again found to be stable in the presence of these molecules.
Together, these results suggest that these molecules are suitable for further testing and development to generate a vaccine. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:57:32Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-73790 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:57:32Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-737902025-02-28T15:18:15Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73790/ Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein MacCalman, Thomas Group B Streptococcus is a pathogen that chiefly infects immunocompromised individuals and neonates. To combat this infection, at-risk mothers are currently given antibiotics before birth to prevent exposure of neonates to the bacteria. A vaccine would be beneficial, as it would allow mothers to combat this infection without excessive use of antibiotics. As encapsulated bacteria, the main structure available as a target antigen is the polysaccharide capsule itself, rather than any underlying structures. For this reason, glycoconjugate vaccines are being synthesised which use surface polysaccharides conjugated to carrier proteins to improve their immunogenicity. This project studies the stability of candidate polysaccharides for use in a glycoconjugate vaccine. The polysaccharides were provided by GSK vaccines, who requested the use of specific hydrodynamic methodology. The polysaccharides were found to be generally stable, only seeing small changes in hydrodynamic properties after exposure to stress, but in many cases it is likely that the differences seen are due to minor experimental variation rather than genuine structural differences. The polysaccharides were also tested for possible association effects with blood plasma proteins: serum albumin, fibrinogen and immunoglobulin. The polysaccharides were again found to be stable in the presence of these molecules. Together, these results suggest that these molecules are suitable for further testing and development to generate a vaccine. 2023-07-22 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73790/1/Thomas%20MacCalman%20Thesis.pdf MacCalman, Thomas (2023) Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. pathogens Streptococcus glycoconjugates vaccines |
| spellingShingle | pathogens Streptococcus glycoconjugates vaccines MacCalman, Thomas Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein |
| title | Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein |
| title_full | Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein |
| title_fullStr | Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein |
| title_short | Hydrodynamics and stability of Group B Streptococcus polysaccharides and CRM197 protein |
| title_sort | hydrodynamics and stability of group b streptococcus polysaccharides and crm197 protein |
| topic | pathogens Streptococcus glycoconjugates vaccines |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73790/ |