THE ROLE OF PROTEINS OF STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEROTYPE-INDEPENDENT PNEUMOCOCCAL VACCINES

Abstract

Infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae are relevant for Russia and the world. One of the key factors in the pathogenicity of pneumococcus is a polysaccharide capsule. The structure of polysaccharide antigens is described more than 90 serotypes of the pathogen. The experience of using polysaccharide and conjugated pneumococcal vaccines shows that these preventive drugs protect against a limited number of serotypes of the pneumococcus. It is of interest to study the protective properties of pneumococcal proteins, as they are conservative and have high homology within the species, potentially expanding serotype non-specific protection level. Thus, the efforts of researchers focus on the development of protein vaccines or conjugated vaccines based on proteins of S. pneumoniae. The review considers the biological properties of the most well-known proteins of pneumococcus and provides data on preclinical studies of the obtained recombinant proteins as experimental vaccine preparations. Immunization with various proteins of S. pneumoniae provides protection of animals from nasopharyngeal colonization, pneumonia and sepsis. Currently, clinical trials (I/II phases) are being tested with several experimental protein vaccines. In the near future it will be possible to assess the real effectiveness of such vaccines.