Streptococcus suis is an important pathogen causing economic problems in the pig industry. Moreover, it is a zoonotic agent causing severe infections to people in close contact with infected pigs o...

Chemical synthesis of conjugate vaccines, consisting of a polysaccharide linked to a protein, can be technically challenging, and in vivo bacterial conjugations (bioconjugations) have emerged as manufacturing alternatives. Bioconjugation relies upon an oligosaccharyltransferase to attach polysaccharides to proteins, but currently employed enzymes are not suitable for the generation of conjugate vaccines when the polysaccharides contain glucose at the reducing end, which is the case for ~75% of Streptococcus pneumoniae capsules. Here, we use an O-linking oligosaccharyltransferase to generate a polyvalent pneumococcal bioconjugate vaccine with polysaccharides containing glucose at their reducing end. In addition, we show that different vaccine carrier proteins can be glycosylated using this system. Pneumococcal bioconjugates are immunogenic, protective and rapidly produced within E. coli using recombinant techniques. These proof-of-principle experiments establish a platform to overcome limitations of other conjugating enzymes enabling the development of bioconjugate vaccines for many important human and animal pathogens.

Streptococcus suisserotype 2 is an encapsulated bacterium and one of the most important bacterial pathogens in the porcine industry. Despite decades of research for an efficient vaccine, none is currently available. Based on the success achieved with other encapsulated pathogens, a glycoconjugate vaccine strategy was selected to elicit opsonizing anti-capsular polysaccharide (anti-CPS) IgG antibodies. In this work, glycoconjugate prototypes were prepared by couplingS. suistype 2 CPS to tetanus toxoid, and the immunological features of the postconjugation preparations were evaluatedin vivo. In mice, experiments evaluating three different adjuvants showed that CpG oligodeoxyribonucleotide (ODN) induces very low levels of anti-CPS IgM antibodies, while the emulsifying adjuvants Stimune and TiterMax Gold both induced high levels of IgGs and IgM. Dose-response trials comparing free CPS with the conjugate vaccine showed that free CPS is nonimmunogenic independently of the dose used, while 25 μg of the conjugate preparation was optimal in inducing high levels of anti-CPS IgGs postboost. With an opsonophagocytosis assay using murine whole blood, sera from immunized mice showed functional activity. Finally, the conjugate vaccine showed immunogenicity and induced protection in a swine challenge model. When conjugated and administered with emulsifying adjuvants,S. suistype 2 CPS is able to induce potent IgM and isotype-switched IgGs in mice and pigs, yielding functional activityin vitroand protection against a lethal challengein vivo, all features of a T cell-dependent response. This study represents a proof of concept for the potential of glycoconjugate vaccines in veterinary medicine applications against invasive bacterial infections.

The capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of Streptococcus suis serotype 14 was purified, chemically modified, and characterized. Sugar and absolute configuration analyses gave the following CPS composition: d-Gal, 3; d-Glc, 1; d-GlcNAc, 1; d-Neu5Ac, 1. The Sambucus nigra lectin, which recognizes the Neu5Ac(α2–6)Gal/GalNAc sequence, showed binding to the native CPS. Sialic acid was found to be terminal, and the CPS was quantitatively desialylated by mild acid hydrolysis. It was also submitted to periodate oxidation followed by borohydride reduction and Smith degradation. Sugar and methylation analyses, ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectrometry of the native CPS or of its specifically modified products allowed to determine the repeating unit sequence: [6)[Neu5Ac(α2–6)Gal(β1–4)GlcNAc(β1–3)]Gal(β1–3)Gal(β1–4)Glc(β1–]_n. S. suis serotype 14 CPS has an identical sialic acid-containing side chain as serotype 2 CPS, but differs by the absence of rhamnose in its composition. The same side chain is also present in group B Streptococcus type Ia CPS, except that in the latter sialic acid is 2,3- rather than 2,6-linked to the following galactose. A correlation between the S. suis CPS sequence and genes of the serotype 14 cps locus encoding putative glycosyltransferases and polymerase responsible for the biosynthesis of the repeating unit is proposed.

The capsular polysaccharide (CPS) is a major virulence factor in many encapsulated pathogens, as it is the case for Streptococcus suis, an important swine pathogen and emerging zoonotic agent. Moreover, the CPS is the antigen at the origin of S. suis classification into serotypes. Hence, analyses of the CPS structure are an essential step to dissect its role in virulence and the serological relations between important serotypes. Here, the CPSs of serotypes 1 and 1/2 were purified and characterized for the first time. Chemical and spectroscopic data gave the following repeating unit sequences: [6)[Neu5Ac(α2–6)GalNAc(β1–4)GlcNAc(β1–3)]Gal(β1–3)Gal(β1–4)Glc(β1–]_n (serotype 1) and [4)[Neu5Ac(α2–6)GalNAc(β1–4)GlcNAc(β1–3)]Gal(β1–4)[Gal(α1–3)]Rha(β1–4)Glc(β1–]_n (serotype 1/2). The Sambucus nigra lectin, which recognizes the Neu5Ac(α2–6)Gal/GalNAc sequence, showed binding to both CPSs. Compared with previously characterized serotype 14 and 2 CPSs, N-acetylgalactosamine replaces galactose as the sugar bearing the sialic acid residue in the side chain. Serological analyses of the cross-reaction of serotype 1/2 with serotypes 1 and 2 and that between serotypes 1 and 14 suggested that the side chain, and more particularly the terminal sialic acid, constitutes one important epitope for serotypes 1/2 and 2. The side chain is also an important serological determinant for serotype 1, yet sialic acid seems to play a limited role. In contrast, the side chain does not seem to be part of a major epitope for serotype 14. These results contribute to the understanding of the relationship between S. suis serotypes and provide the basis for improving diagnostic tools.

Atypical Streptococcus suis in Man, Argentina