Pathogenic fungi can cause varying degrees of severe disease in individuals with normal or impaired immunity, leading to death, long-term illness, and reduced life quality of infected patients. CD BioGlyco is committed to helping clients develop carbohydrate-based antifungal vaccines for the prevention of fungal infections.
The incidence of acute or chronic fungal diseases has increased significantly in the last decade. At the same time, drug resistance increases among clinical isolates of fungal pathogens increasing the demand for the development of corresponding vaccines and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Antifungal vaccines are considered to be a medium to prevent or help treat fungal diseases in patients who need to be treated with immunosuppressive, transplants, or anticancer therapy. Therefore, an increasing number of researchers are focusing on the development of antifungal vaccines.
Polysaccharide components of the fungal cell wall which are not present in humans and mammals are considered promising targets for the development of antifungal immunotherapies. However, purified fungal antigens associated with cell wall polysaccharides are difficult to obtain from natural sources. Moreover, most of these polysaccharides are very heterogeneous, consisting of different antigenic factors and exhibiting different immunogenicity, thus the synthesis of complex oligosaccharide structures associated with polysaccharide antigens is important for the development of antifungal vaccines.
Fig.1 Structural organization and polysaccharide components of cell walls of Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Aspergillus fumigatus. (Krylov & Nifantiev, 2020)
CD BioGlyco has a specialized Vaccine Development Platform and has made progress in Glycopeptide Vaccine Development as well as Glycoprotein Vaccine Development. Currently, we will also offer the development of carbohydrate-based antifungal vaccines. With the research on fungal infections, it is found that most of the immune responses produced are infected by polysaccharides in fungi. Therefore, we develop vaccines using pod polysaccharides of fungi as antigens.
At CD BioGlyco, the polysaccharide antigen production services we will provide are
C. albicans polysaccharides can act as modulators of immune function, and polysaccharides and cell wall-derived glycoproteins have good immunomodulatory activity. Therefore, its production has important implications for the development of antifungal vaccines. At CD BioGlyco, we offer C. albicans Mannan, C. albicans β-(1,3)-Glucan, and C. albicans Chitin production services.
A. fumigatus is an opportunistic putrefactive fungus that accounts for 90% of cases of pulmonary aspergillosis in immunosuppressed patients. Aspergillus species containing different polysaccharides that produce different effects in humans. At CD BioGlyco, we will offer the production of A. fumigatus Galactomannan as well as A. fumigatus α-(1,3) Glucan and explore their coupling to proteins.
C. neoformans has numerous types of pod polysaccharides, which contain hexasaccharide structures and heptasaccharide structures, among others. At CD BioGlyco, we offer production services including Glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), Galactoxylomannan (GalXM), and α-(1,3) Glucan, among others.
Fig.2 Production content of antifungal vaccines with carbohydrates. (CD BioGlyco)
Technology: Explore the covalent coupling of carbohydrates with suitable carrier proteins using immunoinduction reactions.
Journal: Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews.
IF: 16.1
Published: 2020
Results: Covalent coupling of carbohydrates with suitable carrier proteins enhances the immunogenicity of carbohydrates. To induce an immune response, the glycoconjugate binds to the antigen receptor of polysaccharide-specific B cells. Co-stimulatory molecules on the B cells simultaneously interact with the glycans on the T cells, leading to the secretion of interleukins by the T cells, which, in turn, stimulate the proliferation of the T cells. In addition, B-cell co-stimulatory surface molecules connect with ligands on the surface of the T-cells, leading to the production of polysaccharide-specific high-affinity IgG antibodies. The B cells then mature into memory cells and produce polysaccharide-specific antibodies. The antigen-specific memory cells produced are activated upon exposure to antigen-specific pathogens and provide effective prophylactic immunity.
Fig.3 T cell-dependent immune activation by glycoconjugate vaccines. (Khatun, et al., 2020)
In the Development of Carbohydrate Vaccines, CD BioGlyco offers a range of services such as antigen production and carbohydrate-based adjuvant development. We provide custom production solutions to ensure client satisfaction. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to contact us.
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