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Polysaccharide–Protein Conjugate Vaccines

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History of Vaccine Development

Abstract

It is to Karl Landsteiner that we owe the notion that the immunologic properties of nonimmunogenic ligands (haptens), including saccharides, can be improved by covalent attachment to proteins [1]. His pioneering studies in the 1920s influenced Walter Goebel and Oswald Avery (his colleague at the Rockefeller Institute, NY) who sought evidence that serum antibodies to the type 3 capsular polysaccharide (CP) of pneumococci conferred protection to that pathogen [2]. These workers showed that a synthetic disaccharide (hapten), cellubiuronic acid, bound to a protein could elicit antibodies that were both reactive with the type 3 CP and conferred protection to mice challenged with that pathogen. At that time, purification of individual components of bacteria was difficult and high-titered antisera were prepared by intravenous injections of whole bacteria: such serologic reagents were multivalent. Their studies provided convincing evidence that CPs were both essential virulence factors and protective antigens of pneumococci.

This presentation is dedicated to the memory of Margaret Pittman, who died in 1995 at the age of 94 years. We acknowledge her many original and important contributions to science with ­special reference to Hemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). It was our good fortune to have been befriended by Pittman and we are grateful to the many enriching times spent with this gifted ­scientist and inspiring teacher.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892-2720, USA

    John B. Robbins

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  1. John B. Robbins
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  2. Rachel Schneerson
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  3. Shouson C. Szu
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  4. Vince Pozsgay
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Correspondence to John B. Robbins .

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  1. , Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 19104, Pennsylvania, USA

    Stanley A. Plotkin

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Robbins, J.B., Schneerson, R., Szu, S.C., Pozsgay, V. (2011). Polysaccharide–Protein Conjugate Vaccines. In: Plotkin, S. (eds) History of Vaccine Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1339-5_12

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